One-time Rangers target Xavi Simons is proving he can become one of the greatest talents in world football with Eredivisie giants PSV Eindhoven, former Dutch international Rafael Van der Vaart tells Studio Voetbal.
They often say the mark of a truly special player is not in the speed of his footwork or the power in his shot, but in the timing of his decisions.
And Simons, his La Masia roots shining through with every velvet touch, already appears to have the knack of playing exactly the right pass at exactly the right time, to exactly the right player in exactly the right position.
PSV needed someone to take up the Cody Gakpo mantle following their former talisman’s January switch to Liverpool and Simons is doing exactly that; 14 goals and seven assists a frankly absurd return for a teenager enjoying his first season in senior men’s football.
Van Bronckhorst wanted PSV star Xavi Simons at Rangers
“It’s starting to get a bit boring. (We talk) about him every week!” jokes Van der Vaart, the former Ajax, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur playmaker. “But it’s nice to have a player like that.”
“I look at the potential. How good can someone become in the future? With Xavi Simons, everything makes me very happy.
“There are always smarty-pants walking around who say; ‘Yes, we was nice against RKC, but he didn’t show it against Sevilla’. Believe me, in a few years we will all say; ‘How nice that we can use this boy for the Dutch national team’.”
When pressed further on whether the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain wonderkid had the potential to become a truly ‘world-class’ footballer, Van der Vaart was emphatic in his response.
“Absolutely.”
It’s fair to say Giovanni van Bronckhorst will have a few regrets about how his short-lived Rangers tenure panned out; from that Europa League final heartbreak to those thumping defeats at Celtic. But Rangers missing out on Simons – Van Bronckhorst having shown an interest before he opted for PSV (AS) – may one day be viewed as a ‘what could’ve been moment’ akin to that Lionel Messi saga from all the way back in 2004.
“Seeing Xavi Simons play has been fantastic,” adds PSV coach Ruud van Nistelrooy. “It’s incredible that he plays like that at that age. How strong he is mentally. How much he helps us under pressure. And how important he is offensively.”
