With Xavi Simons reportedly of interest to Club World Cup champions Chelsea, we analyse the Netherlands international’s output to see what he could bring to the Premier League.
Xavi Simons was not an unknown figure last summer, especially to those who watched the Bundesliga.
However, more casual football fans may have only heard of him being a young and precocious talent. When they saw him score for the Netherlands against England in the semi-finals of Euro 2024, they may have realised what all the hype was about.
In just the seventh minute of the game, he dispossessed Declan Rice before racing forward and slamming the ball into the top-left corner of the Three Lions’ net from the edge of the box. It was a stunning piece of play, and even though the Dutch ultimately lost the game 2-1, people sat up and took notice.
Simons has been linked with several clubs this summer, and the man named after the legendary Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernández is reportedly Chelsea’s latest target.
He only signed permanently for RB Leipzig from Paris Saint-Germain in January, having been on loan with the Bundesliga club for 18 months prior to that, but after two years in Germany, it seems Simons is ready to take the next step.
A lot of people have taken that next step in the direction of Stamford Bridge in recent years, but what sort of player is he and where could he fit in the FIFA Club World Cup champions’ squad?
He certainly has quite a pedigree for a young player. Simons was born in Amsterdam but his family moved to Spain when he was only three, and he started his football education with Barcelona, spending nine years there and soaking up the top-level learnings at the famous La Masia.
Chelsea reportedly tried to sign him as a teenager, but at the age of 16, he moved to PSG. He was technically contracted to the club for six years, but only made 11 appearances (three starts) in total for them, recording one assist in a Coupe de France game against fourth-tier Vannes in 2021-22.
Simons spent the 2022-23 season on loan at PSV, starting all 34 Eredivisie games and impressing in his home country as he recorded 27 goal involvements (19 goals, 8 assists), with only Ajax’s Dusan Tadic totalling more (29 – 11G 18A).
A loan to Leipzig came in 2023-24, with Simons playing 43 games in all competitions. He managed 10 goals and 13 assists before the loan was extended for 2024-25, ultimately leading to a permanent deal in January. He added another 11 goals and eight assists in 33 games across all competitions.
His 10 goals and seven assists in the Bundesliga last season came in just 25 games, while only Patrik Schick (8.3), Omar Marmoush (6.1) and Harry Kane (5.5) overperformed their xG by more than him (4.9).
However, with Leipzig missing out on European qualification altogether for 2025-26, sales are seemingly needed. It could be that Simons has an opportunity to play in a fifth different country despite still just being 22 years old.
Predominantly an attacking midfielder, Simons is versatile and has played in numerous positions in recent years. Last season, he spent around three quarters of his playing time on the left (75%), 16% centrally and 9% on the right. A lot of that time on the ‘left’ was as a left-sided 10 in a 3-3-2-2 formation, so was perhaps a more central role than his position minutes suggest.
He was a considerable presence on the left, as the touch zones map below supports, but he was also influential in more central areas. He provided width more than Cole Palmer did for Chelsea, for example, who plays more as an orthodox number 10, so there’s certainly world in which they could play in the same team.
His shooting from the left side was not all that effective last season. As you can see from his shot map below, he didn’t score a single goal where his shooting position was wide of the left-hand post, with the majority coming from strikes where he was in line between the posts.
It’s also notable that almost all of his 66 shots in all competitions last term were with his right foot, with just two coming from his left. So perhaps, like Palmer, he will pop up often in central areas when looking to get shots away.
How does he compare to Palmer, though?
In the league, Palmer managed one more non-penalty goal than Simons (11-10), and one more assist (8-7). It should be noted, though, that Palmer played over 1,000 minutes more of league football than Simons in 2024-25.
Palmer often feels central to much of Chelsea’s play, as does Simons to Leipzig’s. He averaged 70.9 touches per 90 minutes in the Bundesliga last season, more than Palmer in the Premier League (56.5). The Dutchman also averaged more passes per 90 (46.1) than Palmer (36.9), while they both had a similar passing accuracy (Simons 82.9%, Palmer 83.1%). Those numbers suggest that they’re similarly effective and influential players in possession, though obviously the question is whether Simons can replicate it in the Premier League.
Palmer did average slightly more chances created per 90 (2.1) than Simons (1.7), but both would likely be valuable creative sparks and should they play together for the Blues, you can imagine the threat of one opening up space for the other.
The assumption is that Simons would predominantly play on the left, where new signing Jamie Gittens is really the only natural left winger currently at the club, with Raheem Sterling expected to move on and Mykhailo Mudryk suspended as he faces a charge of violating the FA’s anti-doping rules. The likes of Pedro Neto and João Pedro could play there, but with Gittens and Simons as potential options, Chelsea would have two quite different solutions, allowing Neto to play on the right where he is arguably more effective cutting inside onto his stronger left foot, and João Pedro to play through the middle.
A big part of Simons’ game is travelling with the ball, being one of only 11 players to attempt 100+ dribbles in the Bundesliga last season. That said, there are gains to be made in this area as he had the worst dribble success rate of those 11 players (32.7%).
He still had some joy while running with the ball, though. His 15 chance-creating carries – where a carry is moving five metres or more with the ball – was the seventh most in the Bundesliga last term. More impressively, only Marmoush and Jamal Musiala (both five) had more goal-ending carries than Simons (four).
He also made the seventh-most long progressive carries (123) – moving the ball at least 10 metres closer to the opposition’s goal. The only Chelsea players who could match Simons’ 5.1 long progressive carries per 90 in the league last season (minimum 1,000 minutes played) were Noni Madueke (6.1), who has left for Arsenal, and Neto (5.6).
It also shouldn’t take Simons much time to get used to Chelsea’s tactics, especially when it comes to transitions. Enzo Maresca’s men had the second-most shots from fast breaks in the Premier League last season (51), while Leipzig had the second most in the Bundesliga (44).
If he’s not running through defences, he’s trying to pass through them. Only Michael Olise and Florian Wirtz (both 25) attempted more through balls than Simons in the Bundesliga last season (22), though he was only fifth for successful through balls (9). It’s the same number of attempts as Palmer recorded in the Premier League, though the England international was successful with 12.
Looking at overall attacking involvements, Simons was crucial for Leipzig in 2024-25, even if they didn’t have the best of seasons, finishing seventh in the Bundesliga. He recorded the most attacking open-play sequence involvements for the club (126), and it was almost an even split between shots (43), chances created (40) and build-up involvements (43), showing he can do a bit of everything.
Speaking of which, Simons also puts a shift in off the ball. Only eight players won possession in the opposition’s final third more often than him in the Bundesliga last season (21), while none of his Leipzig teammates could match his total, made all the more impressive given he only played in 25 of 34 league games.
Should a move transpire, comparisons with Palmer will likely be made, or potentially with Liverpool’s Wirtz as another high-profile attacking midfielder to come from the Bundesliga to the Premier League this summer, but we can use Opta Player Comparisons to see who Simons was most similar to last season from Europe’s top five leagues.
Werder Bremen’s Romano Schmid was closest (83%), followed by Monaco youngster Eliesse Ben Seghir (81%), but most notably, Simons compared well to Arsenal’s Martin Ødegaard, with an 80% similarity score in their outputs, especially in areas such as progressive carries, passes into the penalty area and chances created.
As Chelsea showed in the United States with their victorious FIFA Club World Cup campaign, they are putting together an impressive young squad, and it seems Simons wants to be a part of that.
Is he the Dutch Cole Palmer? Well, that wouldn’t be a fair tag to put on him at this stage. Then again, he’s spent his entire life being called Xavi, so being given a pressured name to live up to won’t be new to him.
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