Xavi Simons

Early career

Simons joined the youth setup of Barcelona in 2010 from Club Deportivo Thader of Alicante, and quickly progressed to become one of the Catalan club's most highly-rated youth players, with English club Chelsea reportedly attempting to sign him at a young age. Described as a "prodigy", he joined the group of players represented by agent Mino Raiola in 2017.

Paris Saint-Germain

In July 2019, Simons moved to French club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), having failed to agree a new contract with Barcelona. His three-year contract with the Parisian club was reportedly worth up to €1 million annually. On 10 February 2021, Simons made his professional debut for PSG, coming on as a substitute for Julian Draxler in a 1–0 Coupe de France win over Caen. He made his Ligue 1 debut as a substitute in a 4–1 win over Strasbourg two months later. On 19 May 2021, he won his first professional trophy, the Coupe de France.

Ahead of the 2021–22 season, Simons was included in the first-team preparation and pre-season by manager Mauricio Pochettino. On 18 August, Simons was sent back to train with the under-19 squad coached by Zoumana Camara. He eventually made his first appearance of the season for PSG in a 3–0 cup win over Feignies Aulnoye on 19 December, his first ever professional start. On 3 January 2022, Simons recorded his first senior assist in a 4–0 cup win over Vannes, a pass for Kylian Mbappé. His first league appearance of the 2021–22 season came in a 1–1 draw…

Simons represented the Netherlands at under-15, under-16, under-17, and under-19 and under-21 levels. On 21 October 2022, Simons was included in the pre-selection of the Netherlands national team for the first time in his career. On 11 November, he was officially called up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar by head coach Louis van Gaal. The youngest player in the Dutch squad, Simons was described as a "somewhat surprise inclusion". On 3 December, he made his Netherlands and World Cup debut in a 3–1 win over the United States in the round of 16, becoming the youngest player to feature in the knockout stages of the World Cup for the Netherlands. In the quarter-finals, he was an unused substitute as the Dutch were eliminated by Argentina in a penalty shootout. On 24 March 2023, Simons made his first start for the Netherlands in their opening UEFA Euro 2024 qualifier against France. He went on to feature in every match of the qualifying campaign for the Oranje, starting in seven of the eight Group B fixtures. In June 2023, Simons was a member of the Dutch squad for the 2023 UEFA Nations League Finals, starting against both Croatia in the semi-final and Italy in the third place play-off. On 29 May 2024, Simons was named in the Netherlands' squad for UEFA Euro 2024. He scored his first senior international goal in the team's final warm-up friendly – a 4–0 win over Iceland on 10 June. On 10 July, he scored a goal in the 7th minute against England in the semi-finals. However, the…

Born in Amsterdam, Xavi is the son of Peggy Simons and Dutch former footballer Regillio Simons, who are both of Surinamese descent. Xavi's older brother Faustino (born 1996), who also played football, shares the same birthday as him. At the age of three, he moved with his family to a village near Alicante, Spain where he started playing football at Club Deportivo Thader, a local club.

At the age of 13, Simons had his first advertising contract with Nike. He switched to Adidas in 2021 before joining Puma in 2023. In August 2018, he featured in a Nike commercial titled "Awaken the Phantom" alongside players Philippe Coutinho, Kevin De Bruyne, Neymar, Ronaldinho, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Andrea Pirlo. During his youth career, Simons amassed a large social media following on Instagram; he had over two million followers on the platform in 2019, at the age of 16. In March 2020, Simons was named on Goal's "NxGn 2020" list of the fifty best wonderkids in world football. He was also included in The Guardian's "Next Generation 2020" in October. Following the death of Mino Raiola in April 2022, Rafaela Pimenta became Simons's agent. In May 2023, he changed his representation to Darren Dein.