When Xavi Simons joined Tottenham Hotspur at the end of last summer, the hope was that he could star on nights like tonight.
A Champions League last-16 second leg, at home under lights, against Atletico Madrid, is a huge occasion by any measure. When Simons signed for Tottenham from RB Leipzig for £51.8million ($70m at the time), it felt as if both parties might have an eye on something like this six months down the line.
For Simons, it was a chance to show the world he was as good as his reputation suggested. Simons had reached this stage of the Champions League with Leipzig in 2024, when they were knocked out by eventual champions Real Madrid. He featured in Leipzig’s miserable Champions League campaign the following year, too, when they lost seven of their eight league-phase games. But every player wants to shine in this competition and at Spurs, he would have another chance.
For Tottenham, Simons offered the high-quality creative talent that was needed as James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski faced lengthy lay-offs. Everyone knew that Spurs needed a bit of stardust, a bit of magic, and Simons was seen as the man to deliver it.
And yet this season has taken Tottenham in directions that no one could have expected. This week, they have one historically significant game and one comparatively trivial one. Their bizarre reality is that the one that really matters is against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, 16th against 17th in the table. To call Sunday’s game a ‘six-pointer’ barely does it justice.
The only thing that matters for Spurs over the next two months is staying in the top flight. In recent weeks, Simons has found himself less integral than many expected to their scrap to stay up.
Xavi Simons celebrates scoring his first Premier League goal against Brentford in December (Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)
Simons has not started any of Tottenham’s last three games — the chaotic defeats to Crystal Palace and Atletico Madrid or the creditable draw at Anfield. He has gone from being the leading light of the team at the turn of the year to the fringes again. It is enough to make you wonder what head coach Igor Tudor does or does not see in him, for the team to be seemingly lacking in technical quality and for Simons, the most technically gifted of their fit and available players, to be back on the bench.
This is why Wednesday’s game against Atletico could be significant, just not in the way that anyone would have thought. If Tudor decides he wants to rest and rotate, to protect his most important players for the Forest game, then that could mean Simons comes back in. It would be his first start since he was hooked one hour into the 2-1 defeat at Fulham on March 1. Even if Spurs’ slim chances of progress to the quarter-finals are no longer at the forefront of everyone’s minds, it could still be a chance for Simons to remind everyone how good he can be.
This is an unusual position for a talented player with a glistening reputation. Even more curiously, during the final weeks of Thomas Frank’s tenure, Simons appeared to be settling into this team and into English football. Amid all the misery of January and February, he was probably Spurs’ best player.
No one would dispute that Simons started the season slowly. He was in and out of the team in the opening months. He did not play a full 90 minutes in the Premier League until December, Spurs’ 2-0 win against Brentford, when he also scored his first goal for the club. That was Spurs’ last home league win.
It felt like something had clicked for Simons. He started four games on the spin, a run that ended with an unfortunate red card against Liverpool. After his suspension, he came back into the team and started the next 11 games in a row, generally playing as the No 10 in Frank’s 4-2-3-1 system.
It was during the course of that run that Simons’ hard work finally seemed to be paying off. He came to England with a sizeable entourage, including a strength and conditioning coach who even moved in with him, a personal trainer, a mindset coach and a video analyst. He had been working hard in the gym to equip himself for the physical challenge.
Simons’ favourite film is Interstellar and before every game, would listen to Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack to get himself in the zone. At the start of this year, there were moments when it felt like an apt choice; that one man’s heroic against-the-odds quest to save humanity might inspire Simons’ heroic against-the-odds quest to save Spurs.
Xavi Simons and his Spurs team-mates react to defeat against Arsenal (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Simons had been improving, running the game in January’s 2-0 win against Borussia Dortmund. And when Manchester City came to Tottenham on February 1, Simons was electric. Spurs were 2-0 down at the break but Simons dragged them back into it almost by himself, making Dominic Solanke’s first goal, creating chances for others, and scrapping for every loose ball, always willing to put his body on the line. Suddenly the physical demands of the English game no longer looked beyond him. The crowd responded well to Simons’ attitude and his team-mates did too.
But Simons was the best player on a dysfunctional team and 10 days after that game, Frank was sacked. Initially, it seemed Tudor, with his focus on fitness and discipline, might be good for Simons, and he started Tudor’s first two games, against Arsenal and Fulham. But Simons has been on the bench for the next three, getting 17 minutes against Crystal Palace and just eight against Atletico Madrid.
Before the trip to Liverpool, Tudor was asked about benching Simons and explained that he chooses what he thinks “is best for the club”, and insisted that Simons was “a good player, an important player”. But Simons was on the bench again, with Tudor preferring the legs of Mathys Tel and Souza out wide in his 4-4-2. It felt like a significant decision, given that this was only Souza’s second start for Spurs. Simons got the last 35 minutes, looking initially rusty, then growing into the game late on.
But if Tudor has landed on a system and a style, a direct physical 4-4-2 approach, then where does that leave Simons? If his priority is speed out wide and selfless running, does he think he can get more of that than other people? There are still eight huge league games left and Simons will certainly have a role. He can do things no other fit Spurs player can do.
It might be that on Wednesday night in the Champions League, Simons gets to make his case again. If he can replicate how he played against Dortmund, it could still be a good night for him. The real challenge will be getting back into the team for the Forest game on Sunday — a scenario few of us saw panning out back when Simons arrived.
