Xavi Simons had big shoes to fill when taking the number seven shirt at Tottenham Hotspur, the jersey having been worn by club legend, Heung-min Son, for a decade prior to that.
It’s fair to say that the Dutchman hasn’t managed to fill Son’s void as yet in north London, one of many to be struck down by injury during what was a tumultuous 2025/26 campaign.
He’ll no doubt be chomping at the bit to get back fit and firing again, eager to make up for lost time. Can he have a long-term future under Roberto De Zerbi?
When will Simons play for Spurs again?
De Zerbi’s first win in charge of Spurs came at a cost back in April, with the 1-0 victory away at Molineux seeing Simons stretched off after suffering an ACL injury.
It felt like particularly cruel timing as the ex-RB Leipzig man had begun to show signs of life at N17, memorably rifling in that stunning effort in the 2-2 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion a week earlier.
Alas, De Zerbi has since had to make do without his number seven, with Simons forced to miss this summer’s World Cup as he faces an extended stint on the sidelines.
While he has been making progress in his recovery, the expectation is that the 23-year-old won’t feature again until early 2027, with February having been noted as a realistic month to aim for.
This new-look team will have to take shape in his absence, although it’s not as if Simons was necessarily firing anyway, following a mixed start in English football.
Assessing Simons’ first season at Spurs in numbers
Snapped up from Leipzig for a reported fee of around £52m last summer, the ex-PSV Eindhoven and Paris Saint-Germain man looked like a real coup at the time of his arrival in north London.
His spell in Germany, for instance, had seen him chalk up 46 goals and assists in 78 games in all competitions, while at PSV, his record had stood at 33 goal involvements in just 48 total games.
Of course, injury has been the key issue since heading to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, yet even before that, the playmaker had struggled to get going, racking up just 11 goals and assists in 41 games.
Not a dismal record, yet it’s worth noting that he’s only scored two Premier League goals thus far, his best work coming in the Champions League, including his stunning brace against Atletico Madrid.
Knowing how best to utilise the Netherlands international has been a key concern, as he’s flitted between a left-wing berth and a number ten role, while he’s failed to replicate the creative dominance he showcased back in Germany.
|
Simons – 24/25 vs 25/26 |
||
|---|---|---|
|
24/25 |
Stat (*per game) |
25/26 |
|
25 |
Games |
28 |
|
10 |
Goals |
2 |
|
216 |
Mins per goal |
885 |
|
2 |
Big chances missed |
3 |
|
7 |
Assists |
5 |
|
12 |
Big chances created |
7 |
|
2.0 |
Key passes* |
1.3 |
|
83% |
Pass accuracy* |
83% |
|
1.3 |
Succ. dribbles* |
1.0 |
|
5.4 |
Total duels won* |
4.2 |
He’s got plenty of work to do to impress when he does return to action in the new year, not least with players breathing down his neck in those preferred roles.
Spurs have the perfect player to take Simons’ number 7 shirt
Let’s face it, Spurs haven’t clicked into gear in an attacking sense so far under De Zerbi, the likes of Omar Marmoush, Dominic Solanke, Mohammed Kudus and Savio all waiting to get off the mark in the Premier League this season.
Currently sat rock-bottom of the table, the Lilywhites need something to change sooner rather than later, amid the risk of yet another season riddled with talk of relegation.
They can’t afford for the likes of Simons to get back fit and firing again, with De Zerbi in need of an instant uplift in performance.
Well, it might well be time to thrust young Luca Williams-Barnett into the mix, the teenager a prime candidate to solve Tottenham’s woes on the left or in a number ten role.
Those two positions have been an issue so far this season, amid Simons’ absence, yet the 18-year-old surely deserves a proper chance to stake a claim of his own.
He did feature late on in the thumping win over Charlton Athletic in the Carabao Cup, although that is still one of just two first-team appearances that Williams-Barnett has made to date.
Easing a player of his age in is a wise move, yet amid the ongoing concerns regarding the lack of a pathway in the academy ranks, promoting the playmaker permanently would be the perfect way to quash that talk.
In the view of analyst and Como scout, Ben Mattinson, Williams-Barnett is “one of England’s best talents at youth level“, his record speaking for itself, too, it must be said.
In 32 games for the U18s, he scored and assisted 37 goals, while he’s since made the smooth step up to life in the U21 set-up, notching 15 goals involvements in just 12 appearances so far.
He’s started this season in rampant form in general too, only recently registering a goal and assist in the 4-2 win over Manchester City, helping to lead Spurs to the top of the Premier League 2 table.
That outing notably saw the youngster lead the way in terms of successful dribbles completed and total shots registered, mirroring Simons as someone who loves to try his luck from range.
Williams-Barnett feels like a superstar in the making, the perfect player to unlock De Zerbi’s limp forward line.
With Simons out of the picture, now appears the ideal time to thrust the teenager into the mix. Who knows, he could even render the stricken Dutchman redundant before too long, taking that number seven jersey for himself.
