Xavi Simons heading to London to spark Chelsea and Tottenham transfer battle | OneFootball

RB Leipzig have given Xavi Simons permission to miss training and travel to London to finalise his future after Tottenham joined the race for his signature.

Chelsea have led the pursuit of Simons all summer and Stamford Bridge had been the favoured destination of the Netherlands international, but with no transfer agreed, it has opened the door for Spurs to act.

Tottenham are in desperate need of reinforcements in attacking positions and have turned their attention to Simons, who has been allowed to leave Leipzig’s training base and fly to England for meetings with Premier League clubs to resolve his future before Monday’s transfer deadline.

Spurs boss Thomas Frank has been on the hunt for a new number 10 since he was appointed in June, with a failed pursuit of Nottingham Forest captain Morgan Gibbs-White earlier this summer followed by Arsenal being able to hijack a move for Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze last week.

Tottenham were rocked in between by a serious knee injury for James Maddison, which will sideline the England international for the majority of this season.

Frank has repeatedly expressed confidence that Spurs would boost their squad and after talks with Manchester City over Savinho cooled this week, the club’s focus swiftly shifted to Simons.

A product of Barcelona’s La Masia academy, versatile attacker Simons moved to Paris St Germain in 2019 as a teenager before he made headlines during a productive loan spell at PSV in the 2022-23 campaign.

Simons would spend the next two seasons at Leipzig, scoring 22 goals in 78 appearances before his move was made permanent earlier this year.

However, with Leipzig willing to let the 22-year-old leave for a sizeable fee, Tottenham have entered the race for his signature and will hope to pull off a much-needed attacking addition before the summer transfer window shuts.