Tottenham poised to sign £51.8m Xavi Simons after Chelsea leave path clear

Tottenham are poised to complete the £51.8m signing of Xavi Simons from RB Leipzig. Personal terms have been agreed with the attacking midfielder and a medical has taken place.

Barring any last-minute hitches the deal will be a major boost for Thomas Frank, who has been looking to add an attacking midfielder. Spurs have lost James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski to injury and have missed out on Eberechi Eze, who joined Arsenal from Crystal Palace, and Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White.

Chelsea were also interested in Simons but never made a bid for the 22-year-old. There are no indications that the club will disrupt their London rivals by attempting a late swoop for the Netherlands international. Chelsea are well stocked in attacking midfield, despite agreeing a £36m deal for Christopher Nkunku to join Milan. They have focused on a £40m deal for the Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho and have targets beyond Simons, including Barcelona’s Fermín López.

Spurs have been able to take advantage of Chelsea not firming up their interest. The north London club properly entered the race on Wednesday and have moved quickly to agree terms with Leipzig, who are in a hurry to finalise a deal so they can move for Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott.

Chelsea explored offloading a player to Leipzig as part of any deal for Simons but that did not appeal to the Bundesliga club and Simons flew to London on Wednesday to discuss a transfer with Spurs.

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Simons, who can play in the middle or on the flanks, has been clear about his desire to leave this summer. He came through Barcelona’s academy before spells at PSV and Paris Saint-Germain, who sold him to Leipzig last January.

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