Key Points
- Xavi Simons, 23, suffered a torn ACL in his right knee during Tottenham’s 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, 26 April.
- Simons was injured in the 63rd minute following a challenge with Wolves defender Hugo Bueno and was initially sent back on after treatment, but was subsequently stretchered off.
- The injury rules Simons out for up to 12 months and ends his participation in the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
- Simons joined Tottenham from RB Leipzig for a reported €65 million and had scored twice and assisted five goals in 28 Premier League appearances this season.
- He had been in excellent recent form, scoring twice and assisting once in his last five matches for Spurs.
- Dominic Solanke also picked up a hamstring injury during the same match and is a doubt going forward.
- Tottenham are 18th in the Premier League with 34 points and four games remaining.
Tottenham Hotspur‘s injury crisis reached a devastating new low on Saturday as midfielder Xavi Simons confirmed he has torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. This rules him out for up to 12 months, ending his hopes of representing the Netherlands at the World Cup this summer.
Simons broke the news himself on Sunday in an Instagram post that captured the raw emotion of a young player facing one of football’s cruellest blows. Writing that life had felt particularly cruel, he described his season coming to an abrupt end and admitted he was still trying to process the news. He wrote that all he had wanted was to fight for his team, and that the ability to do that had been snatched away, along with his place at the World Cup. He added that representing the Netherlands this summer was now gone, and that it would take time to find peace with what had happened.
The 23-year-old has been one of Tottenham’s few bright sparks in a deeply difficult season. Signed from RB Leipzig in the summer for a reported €65 million, he had taken time to settle but had found genuine form in recent weeks. His loss could not have come at a worse moment for Roberto De Zerbi’s side.
For the Netherlands, the blow is equally significant. Simons was expected to be a key figure in Ronald Koeman’s squad for what would have been his second World Cup appearance, having debuted at the 2022 tournament in Qatar. He had earned 34 caps and featured in both March friendlies against Ecuador and Norway. Koeman now faces a mounting selection crisis. PSV captain Jerdy Schouten was already ruled out with an ACL injury in early April, while Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, and Memphis Depay are all in a race against time to be fit for the tournament, which begins in just 45 days.
For Tottenham, the human cost sits alongside the sporting one. Maddison, Odobert, and now Simons—three ACL injuries in a single season, with Dejan Kulusevski, Cristian Romero, Mohammed Kudus, and now Solanke also sidelined at various points. It is an injury record that has defined and derailed an entire campaign.
