Xavier Quentin Shay Simons (born 21 April 2003) is a Dutch professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

or an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

club

PSV PSV may refer to: * Partial specific volume * PlayStation Vita, a handheld game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment * Petit Saint Vincent, an island south of St. Vincent in the Grenadine islands * Platform supply vessel, a specific typ ...

and the Netherlands national team.

Early life

Born in Amsterdam, Simons is the son of Dutch former footballer

Regillio Simons Regillio Simons (born 28 June 1973) is a Dutch football manager and former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is the current manager of the under-21 team of FC Volendam. He is also the father of Xavi Simons. Career Simons starte ...

. Simons is of Surinamese descent through his father. His older brother Faustino (born 1996), who also played football, shares the same birthday.

Club career

Early career

Simons joined the youth setup of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

in 2010 from of

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, and quickly progressed to become one of the Spanish club's most highly rated youth players, with English club

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, as well as Spanish giants

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, reportedly attempting to sign him at a young age.

Paris Saint-Germain

In July 2019, Simons moved to French side

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As F ...

(PSG), having failed to agree a new contract with Barcelona. His three-year contract with the Parisian club was reportedly worth up to €1 million annually. On 10 February 2021, Simons made his professional debut for PSG, coming on as a substitute for Julian Draxler in a 1–0

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professio ...

win over

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

debut as a substitute in a 4–1 win over Strasbourg two months later. On 19 May 2021, he won his first professional trophy, the Coupe de France. Ahead of the 2021–22 season, Simons was included in the first-team preparation and pre-season by manager

Mauricio Pochettino Mauricio Roberto Pochettino Trossero (; born 2 March 1972) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the head coach of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. Pochettino played as a central defender and be ...

. On 14 July 2021, he came off the bench and scored a goal in a 4–0 friendly win over

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...

at the

Camp des Loges The Camp des Loges, also known as Ooredoo Training Centre for sponsorship reasons, located in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, is the training ground of French football club Paris Saint-Germain. The current version of the Camp des Loges opened in No ...

. He scored another goal in a 2–2 friendly draw against Chambly three days later at the same ground. On 18 August, Simons was sent back to train with the under-19 squad coached by Zoumana Camara. He eventually made his first appearance of the season for PSG in a 3–0 cup win over Feignies Aulnoye on 19 December, his first ever professional start. On 3 January 2022, Simons recorded his first senior assist in a 4–0 cup win over

Vannes Vannes (; br, Gwened) is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago. History Celtic Era The name ''Vannes'' comes from the Veneti, a seafaring Celtic people who liv ...

, a pass for

Kylian Mbappé Kylian Mbappé Lottin (born 20 December 1998) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and the France national team. Considered one of the best players in the world, he is renowned for his drib ...

. His first league appearance of the 2021–22 season came in a 1–1 away draw to

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

on 9 January, where he came on as a 69th minute substitute. On 31 January, Simons missed the final penalty in a 6–5

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

defeat to

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France. On 11 February, he made his first league start in a 1–0 win over

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine departm ...

at the Parc des Princes.

PSV

On 28 June 2022, Simons signed for

club

on a five-year contract. Although he was initially expected to extend his contract with PSG and join PSV on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

, the situation changed when PSV no longer wanted a loan deal. However, PSG negotiated a buy-back clause in Simons's contract, effective in 2023. Simons scored a goal on his debut for the club, a 5–3 win over rivals

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

in the

Johan Cruyff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footba ...

on 30 July. On 7 August, in his first Eredivisie game, Simons provided an assist for

Johan Bakayoko Saint-Cyr Johan Bakayoko (born 20 April 2003) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a winger or forward for Eredivisie club PSV and the Belgium national team. Club career Bakayoko played for the youth ranks of Belgian clubs inclu ...

, who opened the scoring in a 4–1 victory against newly promoted Emmen. In March of 2023, he was nominated for and won the Eredivisie Player of the Month award.

International career

Simons has represented the Netherlands at under-15, under-16, under-17, and under-19 and under-21 levels. On 21 October 2022, Simons joined the preselection of the

Dutch national team Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

for the first time in his career. A few weeks later, he was eventually called up for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

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by head coach

Louis van Gaal Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former football player and manager. At club level, he served as manager of Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, as well as having three spel ...

. On 3 December he made his World Cup debut against the

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with a 3-1 win, in the round of 16.

Personal life

In March 2020, Simons was named on

Goal A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ...

's "NxGn 2020" list of 50 best wonderkids in world football. He was also included in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

's "Next Generation 2020" in October. Simons has amassed a large following on social media platform

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, with over 4 million followers. He also has a sponsorship contract with sporting goods manufacturer Adidas.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Paris Saint-Germain *

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

: 2021–22 *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

PSV *

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

Individual *

Eredivisie Player of the Month The Eredivisie Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Eredivisie player each month of the season. The Eredivisie Player of the Month award is based on statistics ( StatsPerform) and votes from foot ...

: August 2022 * Eredivisie Talent of the Month: January 2023

References

External links

Profile
at the PSV Eindhoven website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simons, Xavi 2003 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch footballers Spanish footballers Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Spanish people of Dutch descent Spanish people of Surinamese descent Association football midfielders Netherlands youth international footballers Netherlands international footballers FC Barcelona players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players PSV Eindhoven players Ligue 1 players Eredivisie players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Spanish expatriate footballers Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Dutch expatriate sportspeople in France Spanish expatriate sportspeople in France