Xavi Simons: TRUTH about Barcelona, the original WONDERKID & Why Spurs feel different

0:02This is a global production. You have really good things in the story, the things that are not so nice. I lost a lot of my childhood because I was not a normal kid. I knew from an early age kids would hang around me just because I was Xavi Simons. Man, I heard you can nutmeg anything. He said to me, you are now under my wing. If you need something, call me. I had no friends in Barcelona. People, they don't know what happened inside all this stuff. At the time I chose not to speak, I wouldn't say I closed the door, but I'm really happy in Tottenham. I think we've been into the worst possible scenario.

0:35I want to bring joy to the fans as well because they've been through a difficult roller coaster. The football life goes so fast. You never think this can happen to me.

0:57Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman.

1:09At eight years old, Xavi Simons already had millions watching.

1:15Barcelona raised him, social media made him famous. By 16, he had more than two million followers, had starred alongside Neymar in night commercials and was sharing a dressing room with Lionel Messi. But Xavi's path from prodigy to professional was anything but smooth. Now, after a serious injury ended a difficult first Premier League season with Spurs and cost him a place at the World Cup, Xavi Simons has been given something he's never had before. Time. Time to reflect on his Barcelona exit and time to define the player he wants to be.

1:50Xavi, thank you so much for agreeing to chat on the Sports Agents. It's great to meet you. I suppose the first question is, how is everything after your operation and your rehab and how's it all going? No, first of all, thank you for having me here. No, everything is going good, feeling good. I'm in a good stage right now, my knee, happy with my family. And yeah, that's where I am right now. Now, listeners to this podcast will know I like to share my own sporting experiences. So I had an ACL. Don't laugh because I wasn't doing elite sport. I fell down a mountain skiing. so I know it's it's you can't rush it can you it's one of those things that you have to kind of pace yourself are you exactly where you want to be at this point yeah um especially when they tell you like how long this injury is and uh for me the first two days was was really hard but after that I thought to myself as well don't to put my to put the pressure really really high to myself and I'm seeing like everyday improvements and that's something that makes me really happy So I'm stuck into that.

2:54The first time in your career that you've had to stop like this because of an injury. And you must have seen teammates over the years have the same or similar injury. Have you reacted how you expected to as a person? Through the years, I've seen a lot of players getting injured and you never think like, OK, this can happen to me. So, yeah, this came to me and the two days, first days was really hard, especially because at the moment that we were with the club with Tottenham and the World Cup was coming as well for me and I've played one World Cup but this World Cup was a little bit different because I really could help the team to achieve the goal but yeah it is what it is and after that I took it in a positive way.

3:42How quickly a few days you managed to turn your mindset into something positive tell me a little bit about that process yeah the process is yeah especially when when it happened on the pitch the first reaction is or the woke up that was my first reaction did you know immediately my first reaction was that and after the the fissures came and we were speaking and i asked them please let me try once i want to see if if it happened because my whole life i've been playing and obviously you you receive kicks and you fall down and you have a little bit of pain and then you stand up and it's okay so in my head was like okay something happened but I want to try it once and when I did like the two steps I felt like my knee went out and it came back so when that happened I knew like no something was off and yeah the first two days was really hard because yeah obviously the club is we're doing all the tests and stuff like this so they they tell me what they see and they told me like yeah this is the worst scenario that could happen and it's an ACL injury.

4:44And when I heard that, for me, it was, yeah, the whole world came into my body. So, yeah, it was really hard. But after that, I was with my mom and my sister and my brother, and my mom just said to me, Xavi, we have to look forward. You're still young. You can play a lot of tournaments. You will achieve that. And for me, it was kind of, yeah, okay, it's true what she's saying. So I cannot do anything more. I cannot change it. so let's look it in this way and then the process of the operation and the rehab and everything begins are you good at kind of going right this is what I've got to do every single day I need to do this and this is how I'm marking my improvement yeah so especially after you're like one week in the hospital and you cannot do anything by yourself that's where it hit into my head and it said like wow I cannot do nothing I can barely even walk to the toilet.

5:42I need help. Someone needs to come with me. So having that impact at the moment was like, okay, you know, my life goes so fast. Football life goes so fast that we are not conscious about little things in life. And at that moment in my head was like, I have to be even happy just walking again and going to the toilet and even having a drink with my family. So that was something that really hit into my head. Family are hugely important to you, I know. And I imagine at this particular time, you've taken stock and kind of realized even more how precious that is. Tell me a little bit about what they have been like around you over the last few months.

6:24Yeah, not because it happened, this situation that they are with me, but my whole life, my mom, my brother, my sister have been with me and they've kept supporting me my whole life. and yeah obviously this is a hard moment for me but as I said to you my mom was just I don't know she was just with another mindset like for it was one day yeah she was really sad but after that she was like yeah this happened and we are turning this around and she's someone that believes as well like everything happens for a reason and that's what she wants to bring to the kids and and yeah and I really believed in that as well she's she's very much a figure of positivity it sounds like somebody who believes that you kind of think positive thoughts and good things will happen yeah because her whole life she she manifested everything and that's why I learned that from her as well and being positive in life and always keep going keep trying it and until the very end so so that's what I what I got what I got from her tell me about the manifestation because she is hugely instrumental in your journey and getting you to Barcelona in the first place as a child, which was an enormous kind of journey, both literally and metaphorically, for somebody in her position to put her children in a car and drive there.

7:44Tell us all about that. Yeah, she had to make a decision for the kids, for the future of the kids. And obviously, she wanted me to play, but she always said to me, like, Chavi, if you don't want to play football, I don't care. I'm still loving you, you know? So from early days, I had that kind of message from her. But after, yeah, she made a decision because she knew that that was my dream. And I wanted to become a professional footballer. And I was willing to sacrifice everything. So she said the same. Like, I'm sacrificing my whole life for my kids. So this is maybe a chance to help my kid to achieve his dream.

8:23And that happened. But you moved to Spain as a very young boy. And then this opportunity at Barcelona came at six years old. Yeah. At six years old, you had the dream, I want to be a Barcelona footballer. I want to be a professional footballer. Yeah, I had that my whole life, especially as well. I have my older brother, so I always kept playing against him at home with the ball and always having both the same dream that was just to become professional footballers and achieving different things in football. And yeah, that played a big role. And with six years old, being scouted in Barcelona, that's such an amazing feeling, yeah.

9:00And at a time when Barcelona were dominating Europe with an unbelievable roster of players, to go in there as a child, did you still feel like a kid? Or did you feel like you were being kind of thrust into an adult world at that point? I think as a kid, you don't feel that. I think you're just enjoying the game. You're just happy that you can be there. And even with the time maybe that you're getting older, then you're being more conscious about, okay, this is an amazing club, a big club, huge history and a lot of pressure. But on the early days, I don't think so like a kid that you really feel that kind of pressure.

9:49But then the world starts to notice who you are. You have a social media account that reaches millions and you're in an advert with Neymar as well. I mean, at that point in your life, you're so famous, but not yet a professional footballer. How did your family protect you then? Yeah, difficult because at that time, the social media things were all new and for my family it was something new. So they had to look for help and they've been the ones helping me with that. No other person helped me with that. and they just wanted the best thing for a kid. So they got a social media manager for you? Yeah, because at that time, I don't know how you, yeah, maybe now it's more normal, but at that time a guy from 12 years old, 1 million followers, that was not normal.

10:42So she looked for help just to help me and to focus only in the pitch. Well, she didn't want you to see negative things, presumably as well, and be exposed to things which could be quite mentally hard to deal with, I imagine. Yeah. About the negative part was more like my older brother had more a role because he always told me like, you're going to have people that will not like you and have comments that you maybe don't like, but you have to stick in your way. You have to be strong and to keep going and fight for your dreams. So that was kind of the message that I always had in my dream and in my head and I'm still having that because that's what I wanted to know.

11:20It's hard to imagine what it's like being 12 and being recognized and famous and people knowing who you are at that point. You know, it's a really pivotal period of time, isn't it, in a young person's life. Just give us a little insight into how crazy that was. It was really crazy. Like, I feel like I've missed a part of my childhood because of this. you have really good good things in this story but you have as well like the the things that are not so nice and one of them is um i lost a lot of my childhood because yeah was i was not a normal kid i couldn't go barely on the street and play with with my friends on the street because otherwise other people will come and make a picture and at that time was like i just want to be a footballer i don't want to be famous you know so so that was kind of a little bit difficult but with the time with my brother as well.

12:15Yeah, we developed as humans and he showed me as well a little bit how to handle different situations. Did you have real friends, do you think, at that point? People who wanted to be with you just because you were Xavi, a kid they liked hanging out with? Or did you always feel wary of who wanted to come and be in your circle? Yeah, I have my best friends, but they're not living in Barcelona. They're in Alicante, so that's why it was kind of hard. Barcelona, I was living in La Masia and my family was living in the centre of Barcelona. So the weekends I was going back to home and that was the difficult part because I had no friends, like no real friends in Barcelona.

12:53So, yeah. And I knew from an early age, like, yeah, maybe kids will hang around me just because at the time, yeah, I was chau-a-simos. And at that point, did you really believe that you were going to become, you're going to break through and become a Barcelona first team player? Yeah. that I had never had any doubts of me reaching my goals. I've always believed in me. It's not that you're egocentric or something, it's just you are confident in yourself. And I always believed that I have the ability to achieve all what I want in life. And I manifested everything that I have in life. So, yeah. So when at 16 years old, that was, well, it was cut short.

13:36that was changed that plan what you had manifested was now gonna have to come a different way tell us what that was like when those conversations with Barcelona were going on and it looked like you were going to be leaving yeah it was clear from the part they they didn't believe in me at the time they yeah at the time I choose not to speak because I was just focused on the pitch but at a time at the time they just told me simple was yeah we have other players that we believe in and um yeah we want to offer you a contract but but you are not one of the players that is really in in the project so for me the decision was clear and at the time people they don't know like what happened inside of all this stuff they have an opinion what they hear and uh yeah that's the that's the that's a real story yeah because stories came out that you were moving for money at that point did that hurt of course i've been my whole life there and i've i've yeah i've been through different situations i've done everything there my whole childhood was there so i loved i loved the club and um yeah that that came out it hurt me and my family as well because that was not the case the case was simple they just preferred other guys at the time and for me it was okay.

15:02I had PSG with a really big project with 16 already training with the best players in the world. There was no brainer. So the decision was easy. You did have some very big players at PSG that you were going to be playing with. Obviously one of those was Neymar, Messi and Mbappe there. At 16 years old, was that quite actually a silver lining almost, this disappointment of this cloud that had come that actually I can go here to PSG and I can still be with some of the greatest players in the world. Yeah, I'm totally open. My friends, when they asked me, I was saying, like, this is the best decision that I took until now.

15:42Because we're 16 years old, 70 years old, 18 years old. I've been training with these guys every day. Tell us about that, what it's like. Yeah, people maybe think, yeah, you were not playing with 16. Yeah, of course, I had Neymar, Bappé and Messi next to me, you know. So that's really difficult. They want to play every game. But being around them every day, seeing what they're doing to achieve their goals, that was, for me, the best experience that I could have. Because after that, at a certain point, I said to myself, OK, I've learned from these guys. I've seen what they do to achieve the goals.

16:18And now it's up to me to show that on the pitch. Did it change you as a professional, seeing what they do? I mean, we can see it now that Messi is still in. And as we sit here and speak, he's still in the World Cup. England might have a different story for him next week, but let's talk about that later. But Messi's still playing at the top of his game, his sixth World Cup. And it's incredible to see him as an athlete even being there. What was he doing then, do you think, that's allowed him to have such longevity? Yeah, maybe some people think as well, like it's easy or, yeah, it's just normal.

16:52But this is not normal. this guy not only Messi but all of these guys they prepared themselves their whole life and they know as well like to be on the highest level you have to be at your yeah at your top mindset and and not only in the pitch but as well food sleeping good recovering good and that's such such the same importance as on the pitch and seeing him right now playing at this level still at this age, for me, it's like, yeah, he did everything to be there. And Neymar, obviously, you'd had a relationship with Barcelona and you'd done the advert together. So was there also part of you that wanted to kind of see him as a sort of mentor, as somebody who could put their arm around you in that situation?

17:37Yeah, that happened. When I came there, he said to me, you are now under my wing. if you need something if something happens call me text me come to my house and we sort it out and that's what happened he took that role and that's why I'll be forever grateful to him because apart from being my idol I think I can call him a friend as well nowadays because he's been there for me so so yeah really happy that I could achieve like like a dream as well playing with my idol and you went away to play at psv and this was the first time obviously well it felt like the first time that you were actually being seen maybe as a footballer not just as a child prodigy who was you know globally well known did it feel like that to you that you were now kind of living this life that you'd been searching for and hoping for yeah because that was the path that was the plan um being two years with them learning every day what they were doing and and i said i got to a certain point that I said to myself and my family okay I've seen enough I've learned a lot and now it's it's up to me to show it on the pitch and I need to go somewhere where I know I will play every game so that was an internal point for me yeah and in terms of what you felt as a Dutchman you know because you'd been away from your your country of your birth for such a long time growing up in Spain and obviously you know have Suriname in your in your blood as well did you feel then actually this is my country I this is where I want to play my international football was there ever a doubt no from an early age I remember on the 14th Spain called me and Holland called me and for me it was easy for me was I want I want to play for the Dutch national team and I want to I want to win trophies with my national team and always be my dream and that's my biggest dream until now and I'm I always said to myself like I'm not stopping until winning a trophy for my country yeah and so that experience of playing at PSV obviously you had Rud van Nistelrooy as well involved in your development there tell us about what it did for you as a footballer a lot because as well he was calling me every day to join them and explaining me his project how he was seeing me on the pitch as well and for me was was as well like from day one was clear i said to my family no we're going here because i knew like um so they follow you all the time the the group the family yeah yeah of course they're with me even even though we're not living together um in moments like this is really important for all of us and and we stuck together so when i had like the the call with rude uh after when i finished the call i just said like yeah, I'm joining them.

20:23It was enough with one call for me. So, yeah, Ruth played a big role for me as well. He helped me to make a dream come true that was making my debut for my national team and was directly in a World Cup stage, yeah. Yeah, and you got to the World Cup at 19 years old. Yeah, what was that like, realizing that dream? It's the biggest, I would say, it's the biggest feeling that I've had because that's your country, that's the biggest stage, World Cup. is the highest tournament, I would say. And yeah, making my debut against an American knockout game at that age, yeah, for me it was the best moment, yeah.

21:15As a footballer, obviously, it's what you dream of as a child is going to a World Cup. And we'll go back to the start of our chat when you realize you couldn't play in the World Cup that is happening as we speak right now in the US. Knowing what you're missing out on must have felt particularly hard. And also at the stage you are in your career. But you've come off the back of a season at Spurs, which we've kind of jumped around a bit here, but at Spurs, which wouldn't have necessarily been your ideal preparation for a World Cup in terms of the troubles and challenges that Spurs had and working under three different managers.

21:47the decision to come to the Premier League tell us a little bit about that because obviously when you're here in the UK and Premier League football is huge it looks like a league that has no problem attracting big stars was it always somewhere that you felt you'd end up one day? Yes, because the best players are playing here and you want to play against the best players, the best teams and the Premier League, yeah I would say it's the best competition by far and for me it was clear as well from early young ages as well like one day I want to play in the Premier League I want to compete I want to to to try to win the Premier League and obviously we had a season that we had we all know that was really difficult as well for me but you know not everything in life is gonna go good and really well and the way you want and I see it like this I see it like an experience that I've had this year but now it's another season different different coach, different mentality and for me it's quite exciting You didn't anticipate coming to Spurs and having three managers though in a season how hard was that to be brought in by one manager and then suddenly you're with somebody else and then you finish the season with a completely different manager Yeah, really hard because it's different mentality, different way of playing, different system as well and that's not the ideal entourage, I would say.

23:16And it was the first time that I've witnessed this. So it was just a mix of everything, I would say. But as I say always as well, things happen for a reason. And in terms of the squad of players, did that make it difficult as a new player to this squad, trying to work out the friendships and get a team together and a bond together? Did you find that challenging because of what was going on on the pitch? always when I changed, I adapted quite fast to the way of thinking of the team or with the new players as well. But yeah, this season was a little bit more hard because the results were not there.

23:55So that makes it even harder. And you're playing every two, three days, Champions League as well. You had FA Cup and Carabao Cup. So you don't have time to adapt or time to adapt with the players. and that was difficult and especially what you say being on the three managers that made it even more difficult. So yeah. Do you feel like if you can get through a season like that in the Premier League you can get through pretty much anything? I think we've been into the worst possible scenario. Like everything happens. So our injuries, manager changes, not winning a lot of games, not at home. I think it was everything.

24:38But it finished for the club at least, not you because your season ended in April. It finished for the club with a positive because they survived and Roberto De Zerbi obviously has taken over. Tell us about how the mood in the club, and I know you've been in and out because of your injury, but what is it like now compared to kind of back in March, February? Yeah, even when I got injured, I was still one week in the training ground. You could feel the atmosphere was different. You could feel the people were more together as a club, not only as a players' group, but I mean like the whole club. And Roberto came in and you could really feel that from day one.

25:20And 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 it. I saw that on the television when I was watching the games and watching the team playing was totally different. And at the moment, you communicate with him, presumably, in the club while you're getting rehabbed, but hard not to be a part of that day-to-day kind of build-up to the season? Yeah, it's hard. But as you started the interview, I never stopped like this in my life. So maybe was this the time that I needed to stop and needed to sit down and reflect on different things, not only in football, but in life as well.

26:04Obviously, I want to play every game, but it is what it is. I'm now really working hard to get back. You do have space in your life now that you didn't necessarily plan for. Has this given you time to reflect on things outside of football? Yes, you have time for everything, I would say, now. You have time to see different things in life. You have time to reflect on some situations, even relationships. I think it's everything in general. and now is really a moment that you can really sit down and think about everything. And one of those relationships is a relationship we haven't talked about because we talked a lot about your mum and your siblings, but your dad is not a big part of your life and hasn't been for a long time.

26:49How have you reflected on how he left your life at such a young age? No, yeah, it was his decision. he was not there for me and he hadn't had a role in my life so that's why I'm really grateful to my mum because she is the one that took the family by herself as a strong woman that she's been and she still is and she means the whole world for me so everything that I do is for her and yeah he made his decision He was a footballer, a football manager he knew the journey that you would be going on he would be so well placed to give you advice and to give you support when you were younger did you feel bitterness towards him that he wasn't there at those times no because obviously you ask yourself like why why you don't have that person in your life but at the time like I had my brother as well he was like really a role model for me as well and and he was the one taking taking everything for me i remember he's bringing he was bringing me to football he was bringing me to school he was making sometimes food for me i learned bicycling with him so for me kind of yeah he is my older brother dad so it's a big responsibility for him yeah obviously maybe it's not fair to to have that responsibility at 12 year old 13 years old but he was the one that It was the man in the house.

28:22So I grew up watching him. You have a very special thing in common as well. You were born on the same day. So your bond is incredibly tight, you and your brother. Yeah, the relationship that we have, it's not only brothers, but it's best friends. I can tell him everything. He can tell me everything. And just by looking at both of us, you can see that we understand each other. So for him as well, my love is unconditional. And when you're going through what we discussed earlier, as a child who's being thrust into this world of social media and everybody knowing who you were, he must have felt enormously protective of you.

28:59When you look back now, if you have children one day, is that something that you would kind of, now that we know about social media, is that something that you would treat differently, do you think? In a way of, you mean like in the father figure? Social media has changed a lot, hasn't it, since then? Would you want your child kind of out there, the world knowing everything about them? There are a lot of stuff that maybe people from the outside, they don't know, but there are a lot of mental stuff that is happening and nobody's seeing that. But luckily I had the family that I had and they always supported me.

29:32But imagine that you don't have that, then I think it can destroy you as a person. But yeah, as I said, my brother, he protected me always from those kind of things. and always try to avoid that. And since her early young age, I never, like, I was not a kid. Like, I was looking at my name on Instagram or whatever. You have your mum and you mentioned strong women. You have your grandma who you do a lot with and you have obviously talked a lot about her Alzheimer's as well. Has that been something that you've thought about a lot over these last few months? Yeah, it has been a role in my life, I'm not going to lie.

30:09obviously growing up as well with my grandma hearing that she had that was hard and yeah obviously this illness you're seeing it day by day that it goes that it goes bad every day and yeah what I'm trying to do now with her is just making memories with her even though she's forgetting that instant and in my head it's like okay Xavi do this with her play cards with her because that's that's the only thing that will be with me so so that's what I'm trying to do yeah and I'm sure as you say although her memories fade very quickly you've probably given her a lot of joy as well seeing your career yeah yeah we have a group on whatsapp and my my family always bring her to to watch the games on television and you can really see like she's enjoying it and sometimes she's even screaming in the tv and when I'm when I sit down after the game and I see those kind of videos for me.

31:10Yeah, it's just pure happiness, yeah. Is she a Spurs fan? I think so. Now she's a Spurs fan. She's been here when I signed here, so she's seen the training ground, everything, so she loved it. And she still has the T-shirt in the room, so that's nice. Can you imagine going back to Barcelona one day? You know, I'm focused now in Tottenham. I really have goals that I want to achieve and I want to bring that joy to the fans as well because they've been through a difficult rollercoaster, I would say. So I want to bring that to them and I'm willing to sacrifice everything. So you feel you've closed the door on the disappointment at the end of Barcelona when people were saying things that weren't true.

31:53Has this been something that this period has allowed you to say, right, okay, that's very much in the past? Yeah, I wouldn't say I closed the door, but it's just like I'm really happy in Tottenham. play in the Premier League and I want to show that I can bring a title to Tottenham. And that's my goal right now. And what I say, I'm willing to sacrifice everything just to bring trophies at all. Tell me what Tottenham fans say to you when they see you. I mean, it must have been times last season when you didn't want to see Tottenham fans around and about, but towards the end of the season, if you bumped into them, what kind of response do they have for you?