Tottenham Hotspur star attacking midfielder Xavi Simons is busy recovering from an ACL tear he suffered towards the end of the 2025/26 Premier League season, and it was the worst possible time for the Dutchman to go down - if, of course, there ever was an optimal time to go down injured, let alone with an injury as bad as a torn ACL.
But Simons got hurt just when he was getting excited about playing his best football again under a much better manager in Roberto De Zerbi, who was clearly a big believer in Simons and very enthused about coaching him. And Tottenham needed Simons out there even more badly in the midst of a relegation battle.
Spurs survived without Simons, but they are eager to have him back. He is going to be central to the team and to De Zerbi's plans as a creative midfielder who can progress the ball and potentially even score goals, based on how he played at PSV and RB Leipzig before coming to Tottenham.
Xavi Simons has so much love for De Zerbi
From Day One, Roberto De Zerbi and Xavi Simons have had a great relationship and love gassing each other up to the media, and in an interview with Gabby Logan on The Sports Agent Podcast, Simons wasted no time praising De Zerbi again for what he brought to the club last season.
Simons said, via Chris Cowlin, “Yeah, even when I when I got injured, I was still one week in in the training ground. You could feel the atmosphere was different, you could feel, yeah, the people were more together as a club, not only as a players group, but I mean like the whole club. And Roberto [De Zerbi] came in, and you could really feel that from the day one. And when you have a coach like that that gives you the confidence and really believe in the project and in the players, then everything can change. And I think you could see that. I saw that on the television when I was watching the games and watching the team playing was totally different.”
It's amazing how even though Tottenham were having a very difficult season and Simons was struggling wtih a terrible injury, he still came away with an overall positive vibe from the season because of De Zerbi. The rest of the Premier League has to realize that De Zerbi's charisma and ability to get the most out of his players, especially the young stars, and get them to buy in is massive - and he has all the ingredients of a coach who can lead Tottenham to a fairytale season even better than Mauricio Pochettino just barely coming short.
Add us as a preferred source on Google