Xavi Simons has revealed that Micky van de Ven told him about Tottenham Hotspur before he signed for the North London club.
Among the six players that Tottenham Hotspur signed this summer, Simons is undoubtedly the one who has excited the fan base the most.
The 22-year-old’s ability to beat players and his eye for a pass in the final third is exactly what Thomas Frank’s side have been lacking in the first few games of the season, due to the injuries to James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski.
It turns out that a Tottenham centre-back played a part in Simons’ decision to swap RB Leipzig for N17 this summer.
Xavi Simons makes an interesting Micky van de Ven revelation
Spurs fans had been clamouring for the club to sign a top-class number ten all summer, and in the end, they got their wish in the final days of the transfer window.
It turns out that Micky van de Ven made it clear to his international teammate that he is exactly what Tottenham needed in their midfield.
When asked if he spoke to the centre-back before his switch to N17, Simons told AD Sportwereld: “Micky van de Ven said, ‘We need you, so come here’. And that’s what happened.”
Xavi Simons also knows another Tottenham player well
Van de Ven is not the only Spurs player that the attacking midfielder knows, with Simons having spent time with Wilson Odobert in PSG’s academy.
The pair played 10 games together for the PSG Under-19 side, and both players left the club in the summer of 2022, with Odobert joining Troyes and Simons signing for PSV Eindhoven.
While Van de Ven and Odobert may have played a part in convincing the 22-year-old to join Spurs, Thomas Frank was the biggest factor in selling the Tottenham project to Simons.