Frank Leboeuf has criticised Tottenham’s decision to sign a £52million star following his woeful performance in the 1-0 defeat to Chelsea.
Though they remain fourth in the Premier League table, Spurs were booed off the pitch on Saturday as they lost to their fierce London rivals, with Joao Pedro scoring the winner.
Manager Thomas Frank spent over £185m in his first summer in charge, but several signings are struggling to adapt to life in north London, especially headline arrival Xavi Simons.
Tottenham were desperate to sign a new No.10 but Simons was not their first choice, only turning to the RB Leipzig star after they failed to buy Morgan Gibbs-White and Eberechi Eze.
Still, it was regarded as somewhat of a coup to get the highly-rated Dutchman who had been pursued all summer by Chelsea, but after 12 games he has no goals and just one assist to his name.
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Dropped to the bench for the Blues clash, Simons came on after just seven minutes due to an injury to Lucas Bergvall, but it was his risky and sloppy pass back to Micky van de Ven that was intercepted by Moises Caicedo, who in turn teed up Pedro to score the decisive goal.
Former Tottenham star Jamie O’Hara was scathing of Simons on talkSPORT, saying: ‘It feels like we signed an Antony,’ referring to the £82m Manchester United flop.
‘Xavi Simons, I’m sick to death of him. He gives the ball away, soft, short, and Caicedo nicks it off him.
‘Honestly, he’s come on for Bergvall after five minutes, and it’s like we’re playing with ten men. I’m sick of it, £52million we spent and he’s bang average, he gives the ball away for fun.’
It got worse for the 22-year-old however, suffering the indignity of being subbed on and off in the same match, with Frank hauling him off with 17 minutes to go.
Based on his start at Spurs, Chelsea will be thankful their transfer for the attacking midfielder fell through, while Leboeuf says the Lilywhites greatly overestimated the player they were signing.
‘Xavi Simons played one good year for Leipzig – that wasn’t the case for Paris Saint-Germain before – and an average season last season and was sold for £52million to Tottenham Hotspur,’ the former Chelsea defender told ESPN.
‘And you expect what? What do you expect from those players who have one good year of football? To be to be a game changer?
‘People are dreaming, dreamers. I don’t get that.’
Leboeuf’s assessment of Simons as a one-season wonder does seem harsh given that he did record 19 goal contributions in 33 games last season, compared to 25 in 43 in his first Leipzig campaign.
Frank defended Simons post-match, explaining that he was dropped and then subbed off due to fitness reasons: ‘There’s a reason why we didn’t start him, of course.
‘I think he’s played two starts, short turnaround. Also, that energy and freshness I talked about, played 90 minutes Wednesday night. So that’s why we decided that, and then he played 70 minutes here.
‘So I think that was nothing. It’s just because it looks different when you come on after three minutes and get subbed off.’
Simons should get a shot at redemption when Tottenham host Copenhagen in the Champions League on Tuesday.
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