In a reversal of roles which will be as unfamiliar as it is sweet, Tottenham Hotspur are poised to complete a successful swoop for a player coveted by one of their Premier League rivals, Xavi Simons, multiple reports have confirmed.
The Dutch playmaker has long been linked with a move to Chelsea. RB Leipzig sporting director Marcel Schäfer effectively confirmed that the admiration was mutual last week ahead of what many expected to be an imminent unveiling at Stamford Bridge. However, it is Spurs who have stolen in at the death.
Tottenham have had a €60 million (£51.8 million, $70 million) bid for Simons accepted by RB Leipzig and managed to agree personal terms with the playmaker who underwent a medical on Thursday, per The Athletic. RB’s departing talisman is set to sign a five-year contract stretching to 2030 with a two-year option built in, as revealed by Fabrizio Romano.
Simons fills the creativity chasm opened up in Tottenham’s midfield by the summer exit of Son Heung-min and season-ending injury to James Maddison. Dejan Kulusevski has also been nursing a fitness complaint during the early weeks of the current campaign which has forced Thomas Frank to field a midfield based on industry rather than dexterity.
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Xavi Simons
Xavi Simons was one of Chelsea’s top targets. / IMAGO/HMB-Media
The former Barcelona academy gem, who first rose to prominence as a child via viral YouTube videos, suffered a notable dip in the quality and quantity of output last season. Yet, the same could be said for the rest of his RB Leipzig teammates in what was a decidedly underwhelming campaign.
Should the deal for Simons go through, the 22-year-old would become Tottenham’s fourth most expensive arrival of all time and undoubtedly one of the most satisfying.
The north London outfit have already been gazumped by Arsenal this summer in their pursuit of Eberechi Eze and have a bitter history of getting to the advanced stage of negotiations for players only to watch them join a domestic foe. Luis Díaz and Rúben Dias were lured to Liverpool and Manchester City respectively, Bruno Fernandes’s arrival collapsed and Willian was at the Spurs training ground before dashing off to Chelsea.
Now it is the Blues who can lament a lost gem.
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