Xavi Simons (2003, Amsterdam) has been one of the best-known underage players for a long time now. His football quality, catching looks his long golden curly hair is a trademark and his presence in social media with 3.7 million followers on Instagram make him a perfect marketing product.
Now that he turned 18, Simons is starting to show why he’s been at two of the best clubs in the world (PSG & Barcelona) at such a young age and his performances for PSG U19 have caught the eye of scouts of the best clubs in Europe.
With his contract expiring next summer and struggling to get playing time with PSG’s first team, he’s been linked with a move back to Barcelona or a surprising move to Rangers, where he should be a regular starter.
In this tactical analysis, we’ll see what’s so appealing about Simons’ playing style, why he’s one of the best players in this season’s UEFA Youth League and what he would contribute to his new team.
Profile and career
Born in 2003, Xavi Simons played for CD Tháder in Alicante, Spain when he was a little kid before joining Barcelona at the age of seven. At Barcelona, he progressed through the ranks as one of the most promising players in La Masía, with top clubs like Chelsea or Real Madrid reportedly trying to sign him.
Despite the attempts of Barcelona to keep him, Simons rejected all the professional contracts he was offered and joined PSG in 2019 when he was 16. Since he arrived at PSG, he has played just three games for the first team but has been an important part of PSG U19 in the UEFA Youth League, playing 11 games (four goals and six assists).
Simons holds both Spanish and Dutch passports but has chosen to play for the Netherlands, representing them at U15, U16, U17 and U19 levels. In total, he has 20 youth caps and has scored seven goals and provided three assists.
He can play in any midfield or attack position as he’s very complete in terms of physicality and technique. We’ll cover this in the next section of the analysis but despite being raised as an interior in La Masía, he’s evolved more into an attacking midfielder or false-9 role at PSG.
Physically, Simons stands at around 1.70m and is still developing but has a great presence thanks to his athletic build. He’s very mobile and agile, has good acceleration and a decent top speed. His change of pace, once he’s running at high speed, isn’t especially good. On top of that, he’s quite strong to resist challenges.
Technically, Simons is excellent in all aspects. His first touch is fantastic, both to control and pass the ball, he’s skilled to dribble in tight spaces and also to carry the ball in open spaces (looks faster on the ball than off it), his passes are tense and accurate and he can also finish with quality.
He also displays excellent communication and leadership skills. His football is enough to be an important part of his team but he also has the personality to take responsibility and lead the team.
Positional versatility and movement
As we mentioned in his profile, Simons is an offensive player who can adapt to very different positions on the pitch. At Barcelona, he was one of the central midfielders in their classical 4-3-3 but since arriving at PSG, we’ve seen him play from either wing, as a false 9 and as a 10.
He generally plays with a lot of freedom and likes to be in contact with the ball, either dropping deep and moving between the lines or drifting inside from the wing. What he’s not is a classical winger who will stat wide and be patient to receive the ball and run at the defender in 1v1 situations. Dribbling and pace aren’t his best attributes and his quality demands to get more on the ball and affect games from central areas.
If we look at the positions in which he received his passes this season in the UEFA Youth League, we see he drops deep a lot, even to his half, to get the ball from defenders and lead PSG’s progression. As the attacks progress and he gets forward, he gets more and more central, moving first to the half-spaces and then to zone 14 at the edge of the box.
Simons often needs other players to go deep and take advantage of the spaces he creates when coming deep, which is often done by one of the central midfielders when PSG use a 4-3-3 or by the wingers. Let’s see some examples.
In the first one, Man City are pressing PSG very high and Simons comes deep from the striker position to offer a progressive passing option. As he receives the ball, both wingers and one of the central midfielders rush forward to attack the space he has just left. He turns and plays the ball to the right, setting up a quick attack and breaking Man City’s press.
