Xavi Simons has revealed a very interesting off-field reason why he has become close with Dominic Solanke at Tottenham.
The Dutchman has found his feet in the Premier League over recent months after a difficult start to life in North London.
Xavi even turned down a five-day holiday to do extra training sessions at Hotspur Way last week, which shows the 22-year-old’s commitment to becoming better.
The attacking midfielder is starting to connect well with a few Tottenham Hotspur teammates on the pitch, and he has now revealed that it is the same off the pitch as well.
Xavi Simons and Dominic Solanke have bonded at Tottenham
Solanke’s obsession with anime is well-documented, as one has often seen with the Tottenham striker’s goal celebrations.
It turns out that Xavi is just as big a fan of anime, with the midfielder admitting that he and the England international have bonded as a result.
When asked if he is closer to Solanke than others at Spurs due to their mutual obsession and when asked if we can soon expect a mutual anime celebration from the pair, the 22-year-old told Goal.com: “That’s true! We didn’t play a lot together, now it’s maybe four games.
“I think he wanted to do his own celebrations, but now that he scores a lot of goals, we will (celebrate) together. With Dom, we share that like of anime. But it’s a really good group, especially with him as well, he’s really nice. Hopefully, we can celebrate a lot of goals together.”
Pedro Porro has challenged Xavi on his favourite pastime
Apart from anime, the former RB Leipzig man is a serious ping pong player and even recently opened up a challenge on ‘boykienoxavi’ to anyone who claimed they could beat him at the game.
The Tottenham star revealed that Pedro Porro is keen to challenge him and that he and the Spaniard could soon have a high-stakes showdown.
When asked about his challenge, Xavi said: “We cannot start this! Everyone who comes to my home tries to play against me, and so far nobody has beaten me. I’m still waiting.
“When I was 11, I moved into La Masia (Barcelona’s academy) to live there. There was a ping pong table. Since then, I’ve been playing every day. I remember I was getting beaten by the older guys, but I said to myself that I needed to get better. I’m always playing in my house.”
“I spoke with Pedro Porro. He said to me, ‘I would win easily’, so I said to him, ‘OK, let’s do a game’. We’ll see, when one loses, they’ll have to do something for the other one!”
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