Xavi Simons is set to move this summer - but will any Premier League teams make a bid?
Go back over the past year’s worth of transfer rumours, and you’d be hard pressed to find a player whose name has cropped up as often as Xavi Simons. Whether it’s Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester City alleged to be interested, the 22-year-old Dutchman has seldom been far from the gossip columns.
Things calmed down a little after he made a long-term loan from PSG to RB Leipzig permanent in January. The German club agreed to pay €50m up front and another €30m in bonuses, breaking the club transfer record despite the fact that he would only sign a two-and-a-half year deal, but clubs seldom spend that sort of cash without expecting to hang on to the player for a little while. They probably won’t get their wish.
It's been reported by a number of outlets, including The Athletic, that Simons has already told Leipzig that he wants to leave, citing the club’s failure to qualify for European football after finishing seventh in the Bundesliga. That should put quite a few clubs on high alert – but only a couple in the Premier League seem like serious contenders. They just so happen to share a city with each other.
Why Manchester United & Manchester City could bid for Xavi Simons
Most of England’s biggest teams have been linked with a bid at some stage or another, but a few of them seem highly unlikely to get involved in any scrap that breaks out over Simons this summer.
Arsenal, for instance, are prioritising a left winger and a striker this summer and are unlikely to break the bank for a number ten when they already have Martin Ødegaard occupying that position. Liverpool have just agreed to spend £116m on Florian Wirtz. Chelsea have Cole Palmer, unless Enzo Maresca is desperate to move him back to the right wing. Spurs have already invested plenty in James Maddison, and Simons likely wouldn’t fit Newcastle’s system.
All of which leaves two candidates – the Manchester clubs. L’Equipe have already reported that Manchester City were interested, but claimed that he was viewed as an alternative to Rayan Cherki had the deal for the Lyon man fallen through. Manchester United, meanwhile, have been linked on a monthly basis for the past year or two, but nothing tangible has ever emerged from it.
For United, the major problem is that they can’t offer European football any more than Leipzig can. Should they be frustrated in their efforts to sign Bryan Mbeumo then Simons would be a startlingly good Plan B to go for, but that doesn’t mean that he would be interested.
Still, United’s name carries an immense amount of weight. Throw a ton of money behind a bid – all the cash saved from those sacked tea ladies and museum attendants must have added up by now – and perhaps Simons’ arm can be twisted.
As for City, they would seem to be in the best position of the various Premier League teams who have supposedly expressed an interest. Cherki can play as a ten but is naturally a wider player, while Simons is a more natural number ten who can operate on the flanks in a pinch. The Dutchman had better results out wide this season than he did when he first moved to Leipzig on loan, but it’s still fairly clear that he would be best suited to what was, until recently, the Kevin de Bruyne role.
Simons isn’t as adept at beating a man one-on-one as Cherki, but he has excellent vision and a passing range to match, as well as presenting a very genuine goal threat – he has scored 18 league goals in the past two seasons in Germany, to follow the 19 he scored in the Eredivisie while on loan at PSV Eindhoven in the 2022/23 season. Between his creativity and his goal-scoring prowess, he could easily take De Bruyne’s place while Cherki operated in a wider role, perhaps taking up the mantle from Bernardo Silva.
Will Xavi Simons head to the Premier League this summer?
While City have a vacancy which Simons can fill, it isn’t certain that they will make a move. For starters, Pep Guardiola expressed his desire to work with a smaller squad at the end of the last season, and unless some of the older players can be offloaded he may not want to add further reinforcements.
But Simons does fit the plan to make the squad younger, a plan which has been made plain by the additions not only of Cherki, but of Vitor Reis, Abdukodir Khusanov, Savinho and Nico González over the past year or so, and has many of the qualities that Guardiola prizes. He seems to be a natural fit.
Simons, however, may end up heading elsewhere. He is widely reported to be keen to move back to Barcelona, whose famous La Masia academy he emerged from before moving to France.
Barcelona, for their part, are focused on the signing of Nico Williams and may not have the budget to buy Simons as well given their well-publicised financial difficulties, but should Arsenal or Chelsea beat the Catalans to the punch in the race for Williams, then Simons could become an option.
Bayern Munich are also said to be interested, and may be even better placed than Manchester City. Like Guardiola’s side, they missed out on Wirtz and need a number ten, they have the spare money to spend, and if Simons is content to stay in the Bundesliga then they would be a very natural fit for him.
As it stands, the odds are probably in favour of Simons making a move which doesn’t involve the Premier League, but several teams will be monitoring his situation and weighing up their options now that Simons seems to be on the market. Leipzig, for their part, reportedly want a fee in the region of €70-75m (£60-64m) for his services, having accepted that Simons is determined to leave and that they have a good opportunity to make a profit before they have to start paying all those add-ons.
He’s immensely gifted, impressive both as a playmaker and a goalscorer, versatile and seemingly more than ready to take the next step in his career. He also happens to be an endearingly elegant player, and watching him glide through games is a joy when he’s at his best. Perhaps an English audience will get to see that up close very soon.
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