Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed this morning that Xavi Simons (£6.6m) will miss the rest of the season.
The Dutchman was stretchered off with a knee injury in Saturday’s win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
That is now revealed to be a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee.
Xavi will undergo surgery in the coming weeks and faces a long road back to recovery.
Not only will he miss the 2025/26 run-in and the FIFA World Cup, but he’ll also miss a large chunk of next season.
Recoveries from ACL injuries usually take somewhere in the region of nine months, so we may not see Xavi again until 2027.
HOW WILL SPURS REPLACE XAVI?
A reporter asked this question of Roberto De Zerbi after the Wolves game on Saturday.
Xavi, remember, had been playing as a nominal left-winger in his last two starts, rather than as a number 10, although he did naturally drift infield.
“We can play with Mathys Tel on the left, Kolo Muani on the right. Souza on the right, Bergvall on the left. We have to create. I don’t want to change too much, three defenders, four defenders… I don’t want to put more confusion on the players, especially this season because they changed a lot of tactical disposition. I want to be clear and simple.” – Roberto De Zerbi on how he plans to fill the void left by Xavi
Mathys Tel (£6.2m) had already come on for the disappointing Randal Kolo Muani (£6.9m) before Xavi’s injury. Tel operated from the right wing as a result.
So, it was Lucas Bergvall (£5.2m) who replaced the stricken Netherlands international for the final half an hour on Sunday, as you may be able to glean from the passing map below:
