Xavi Simons was already a celebrity on Instagram as a young teenager. Thanks to his strong performances at PSV, he is now also a rising star in the Eredivisie. How the ‘Gouden Krul’, who played together with his idols Lionel Messi and Neymar in Paris last year, conquered the hearts of the Netherlands.
Een kleine jongen met blonde krullen loopt met een bal aan de voet over een voetbalveldje in Barcelona. Hij lacht, knipoogt en dribbelt, zoals alle jongens in Spanje doen. De aanwezigheid van voetbalkunstenaar en YouTube-ster Soufiane Touzani verraadt alleen dat deze jongen anders is dan de anderen.
Normaal gesproken laten de grootste voetballers ter wereld hun trucjes zien in de video’s van Touzani, maar de wereldberoemde vlogger heeft voor de veertienjarige Simons een uitzondering gemaakt. En dat doet Touzani niet zomaar.
Simons wordt als een grote belofte gezien in de jeugdopleiding van FC Barcelona. Hij wint vier keer op rij de Gouden Bal voor jeugdvoetballers. Op jeugdcomplex La Masia weten ze zeker dat de zoon van oud-profvoetballer Regillio Simons het eerste gaat halen.
Ontvang meldingen bij belangrijke ontwikkelingen rondom PSV
Videos of dribbles, passes and goals are going viral on social media. It explains the 600,000 followers that fourteen-year-old Simons already has on Instagram. With his blond curls he is a striking appearance. He therefore has the magical nickname ‘Rizo d’Oro’ (Golden Curl). It also helps that he is named after current FC Barcelona coach Xavi.
Simons tells Touzani that he is not much of a trickster. “I’m more into the position game,” he stammers. He likes to score, but prefers to give an assist. “I like making someone else happy. That’s better for the team.” The video has been viewed four million times. In the Netherlands he is only a great unknown.
CV Xavi Simons
- Leeftijd: 19 jaar
- Positie: middenvelder
- Interlands: 1
- Clubs: FC Barcelona (2010-2019), Paris Saint-Germain (2019-2022), PSV (2022-heden)
- Volgers op Instagram: 4,4 miljoen
Left with a fuss at FC Barcelona
Simons was born in Amsterdam, but after his father Regillio’s active playing career, he moved to the Spanish village of Rojales at the age of three. It is the place where the family has often been on vacation in the summer.
FC Barcelona scouts Simons at the age of six at the local football club CD Thader. After a commercial with star Neymar, the midfielder suddenly becomes world famous. Gerard Piqué greets Simons by his first name when they meet at the club.
Simons would never play a match at Camp Nou. The surprise is great when he switches to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2019. In return for PSV TV Simons says in October last year that PSG came up with a “fantastic plan”, but opinions are divided.
Then head of youth academy Patrick Kluivert insinuates that Simons chose the money in Paris. FC Barcelona fans call Simons a “money guzzler and “rat”. At the time, the late Mino Raiola was Simons’ agent.
Neymar father figure in Paris
In Paris, Simons meets an old acquaintance: Neymar. The Brazilian superstar quickly takes care of the seventeen-year-old curly hair, who sees him as a father figure. “He is the one who often comes to me and asks if I need anything or need to know things,” he told the newspaper last year. NOS.
If Messi also joins PSG, Simons’ big dream will come true. Suddenly he is on the field with his idols Messi and Neymar and also Kylian Mbappé. At the same time, his chance of playing time in the star ensemble decreases. After his debut, he is more often not in the match selection.
For this reason, Simons decides not to extend his expiring contract, which also raises questions in Paris. Simons, who played eleven games for PSG, does not care about that. “I don’t listen to other people if they have a criticism or an opinion. I follow my own feelings. Football is everything to me.”
And so Simons ends up at PSV, which often picks up top talents from abroad. It will be on display in the Netherlands for the first time. But he will not put a return to PSG out of his mind. When concluding his five-year contract with PSV, he includes a PSG clause.
If the French club makes an offer of 10 to 12 million euros at the end of the season, Simons can return to Paris. The midfielder cannot imagine that a few months later, PSV fans will beg him to waive the clause.
‘Best player in the Netherlands’
“I think he is currently the very best player the Netherlands has to offer. If I had been national coach Ronald Koeman, I would have built the team around him.” Former international Rafael van der Vaart will be in the NOS program on Sunday, after Feyenoord-PSV (2-2) Studio Football superlatives short for star Simons.
The midfielder has been playing in the Eredivisie for less than half a year, but has already conquered the hearts of many football fans. He darts around the field, throws passes and scores nine times already, each time celebrating with a telephone gesture – a fabrication of his older brother Faustino. The message behind it remains mysterious. “One day I’m going to explain that.”
Simons has chosen PSV because of trainer Ruud van Nistelrooij, but remarkably enough he still starts on the bench in the first Champions League matches. When the club misses the ball of millions, Van Nistelrooij quickly changes his mind and Simons’ career takes off like a comet.
Simons will be allowed to join the Dutch national team at the World Cup in Qatar in November. If the game of Orange does not sparkle in the group stage, the Netherlands will call for a basic place for Simons. Former national coach Louis van Gaal ignores the pleas. Simons only makes his international debut in the eighth final against the United States as a substitute.
After the departure of Cody Gakpo to Liverpool, Simons is PSV’s best player at nineteen years old. “He is exceptional and that is special at his age. I myself was not yet at that level at that age,” says Van Nistelrooij, who himself played for Real Madrid and Manchester United. Simons is now not only known for the films on the internet.
