Simons: First thought after injury was "oh no, the world cup"; leaving Barcelona wasn't about money

Xavi Simons was interviewed on The Sports Agents, where he discussed his injury recovery, his childhood fame, and the real reasons behind his departure from Barcelona. This is the first part of the interview.

Foreword

At the age of 8, Xavi Simons was already attracting the attention of millions. Barcelona nurtured him, and social media propelled him to rapid fame. By the age of 16, he had over 2 million social media followers. He had not only appeared in a Nike commercial with Neymar but had also shared a changing room with Messi. However, the path from child prodigy to professional footballer was not smooth.

Now, a serious injury has ended his difficult first Premier League season at Tottenham Hotspur and caused him to miss the World Cup. For Xavi Simons, this period has also brought something he never had before—time. He has had time to reflect on his departure from Barcelona and to consider what kind of player he truly wants to be.

Xavi, thank you very much for the interview, it's great to see you. The first question is, how are you doing after your surgery? How is your recovery progressing? Is everything going smoothly now?

First of all, thank you for inviting me. Everything is going very well now, and I feel good. My recovery is at a good stage, my knee is doing well, and I'm with my family, which makes me very happy. That's my current state.

Listeners of this podcast know that I also injured my ACL, but don't laugh, because I wasn't competing at a high level at the time; I fell off a mountain while skiing. So I know that you can't rush this kind of injury, right? You have to control the pace, step by step. As of now, is your recovery on track with expectations?

Yes, especially after they told me the recovery period. The first two days were really tough, but then I told myself not to put too much pressure on myself. I see progress every day, which makes me happy, so now I'm just focusing on that daily progress.

This is the first time in your career that you've been sidelined by injury for an extended period. You must have seen teammates suffer similar injuries over the years. When it actually happened to you, was your reaction what you had imagined?

I've seen many players get injured over the years, but you never think, "This will happen to me." But this time it really did. The first two days were very difficult, especially since I had just joined Tottenham Hotspur, and the World Cup was about to start.

I had already participated in one World Cup, but this one was different because I really felt I could help the team achieve its goals. But it happened. After that, I started to look at it in a more positive way.

So, you adjusted your mindset within a few days. Could you talk about that transition process?

When the injury happened on the field, my first reaction was, "Oh no, the World Cup." That was my immediate thought.

Did you immediately realize the injury was serious?

My first thought was the World Cup. Then the staff came onto the field, and we communicated. I told them, "Please, let me try, I want to confirm if there's really something wrong." Because I've been playing football my whole life; getting hit, falling, and pain are common, but usually, you get up and you're fine.

So I thought, "Maybe it's just a minor issue, I'll try again."

But after I took about two steps, I felt my knee "pop out and come back in." At that moment, I knew something was wrong. The first two days were very difficult because the club had to do all sorts of examinations and then tell me the results.

They said, "This is one of the worst-case scenarios; you've injured your ACL."

When I heard that, I felt like my whole world had collapsed; it was truly very difficult. Later, I was with my mom, sister, and brother. My mom told me, "Xavi, we have to look forward. You're still young, you can participate in many more events, and you will achieve your goals."

I thought, "Okay, she's right." I couldn't change what had happened, so I could only accept it and look forward.

After that, you had surgery, and your rehabilitation officially began. Are you the type of person who immediately sets goals and measures progress daily?

Yes. Especially after spending a week in the hospital and not being able to do many things on my own, I really realized this. I thought, "Oh my God, I can't do anything. I even need someone to help me walk to the bathroom."

That moment was a big shock. I realized that life moves too fast, and football careers move too fast, so much so that we overlook the importance of many small things. I started to think: being able to walk again, being able to go to the bathroom by myself, being able to have a drink with my family—all of these should be appreciated. This incident really touched me deeply.

I know your family is very important to you. I imagine that during this special period, you've re-examined many things and become even more aware of your family's preciousness. How have they supported you over the past few months?

They weren't there just because of this injury. My mom, brother, and sister have been supporting me since I can remember. Of course, this has been a very difficult time for me. But as I said, my mom has a different mindset than others.

She might have been sad for only one day, and then she said, "Okay, we have to turn this situation around."

She believes everything happens for a reason, and that's the idea she's always instilled in us. I truly believe that too.

It sounds like she's a very positive person. She seems to believe that if you maintain positive thoughts, good things will happen.

Yes. Because everything she wanted to do in her life, she eventually achieved through belief and hard work. I also learned from her to face life positively, keep moving forward, and persist until the end.

Could you elaborate on her belief that "everything will come true"? Because she played a crucial role in your upbringing, including when you moved to Barcelona as a child. For her, taking her children to Barcelona was a major decision, both practically and personally. Can you tell us about that situation?

She had to make decisions for her children and their future. Of course, she wanted me to play football, but she also said, "Xavi, even if you don't play football, I'll love you just the same." She's been telling me that since I was very young.

Then she made that decision because she knew it was my dream, and she knew I was willing to do anything for it. So she chose to support me. She thought, "I'm willing to sacrifice my whole life for my children, and this might be an opportunity to help my child achieve their dream." And in the end, it happened that way.

You went to Spain at a very young age, joining Barcelona at 6, right?

Yes.

At that time, your dream was, "I want to be a Barcelona player, I want to be a professional player."

Yes, always. Especially with my brothers, we always played and competed together at home. We always had the same dream: to become professional players and achieve success in the football world. Being scouted by Barcelona at 6 felt wonderful.

Barcelona was at its peak then, with a very strong squad. When you joined, did you feel like you were still a child, or had you entered the adult world?

I don't think children at that age have that kind of awareness. You just enjoy football and are happy to be there. As you get older, you realize, "This is a great club, with history and pressure." But at first, you don't really feel the pressure.

But then the whole world started paying attention to you. You had millions of followers and were in commercials with Neymar. You were already very famous before you were a professional player. How did your family protect you?

It was difficult. Because social media was still new back then, and it was unfamiliar to my family too. So they had to learn and seek help. It was always my family handling these things; they just wanted to do what was best for their child.

So you had someone helping you manage social media when you were 12?

Yes, because I didn't know how to handle those things. It might be more common now, but at that time, it wasn't normal for a 12-year-old to have a million followers. So my mom found professionals to help me with it so I could focus on football.

She also didn't want you to see negative content, right?

In that regard, my brother played a bigger role. He always told me, "There will always be people who don't like you, and there will be negative comments, but you have to stick to your own path, stay strong, keep moving forward, and fight for your dreams." I've always remembered that, and I still do.

It's hard to imagine a 12-year-old being recognized and famous, with everyone knowing who you are. For a young person, that's a very critical stage of life. Could you give us an idea of how crazy life was back then?

It was really crazy. I feel like I lost a part of my childhood. This story has good parts and bad parts. One of them is that I wasn't a normal kid. I couldn't play football in the street like other kids because people would always gather around to take pictures.

I thought, "I just want to play football, I don't want to be famous." That was hard for me.

But over time, with the help of my brother, I gradually matured and learned to deal with these situations.

Did you feel like you had true friends back then? Did people stay with you just because you were Xavi, the kid they liked to hang out with; or were you always wary of those who wanted to enter your inner circle?

I had best friends, but they weren't in Barcelona; they were in Alicante, so that period was difficult. I lived at La Masia, and my family was in the city center. I would go home on weekends, but I didn't have true friends in Barcelona. I knew from a young age that some kids were with me probably just because I was Xavi Simons.

Did you believe you could make it to the Barcelona first team back then?

I never doubted myself. I always believed in myself. This isn't arrogance, but confidence. I always believed I could achieve my goals, and everything I have now is a result of believing I could do it back then.

But at 16, that path ended. Your original plan was changed. What was that experience like when you communicated with Barcelona and prepared to leave?

Their attitude was clear; they didn't believe in me. I chose not to speak and just focused on training.

They told me, "We have other players we trust more. We can offer you a contract, but you're not central to our plans." So it was very clear to me.

The outside world didn't know what happened and only judged based on rumors. But that's what really happened.

At the time, there were rumors that you left Barcelona for money.

That hurt me a lot. I had grown up there, it was my childhood, and I loved that club. Those claims not only hurt me but also my family, because it wasn't true.

The truth was they chose other players. That's fine by me. Paris Saint-Germain gave me a plan that allowed me to train with world-class players at 16. So the decision wasn't complicated.

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