Xavi Simons has been on the radar of Premier League teams for ten years. At just 12, with his striking blond hair and impressive skills, he caught Chelsea’s eye.

At the time, Chelsea was searching worldwide for top academy talent, and Simons was a standout, having shone for Barcelona’s Under 12s during the La Liga Promises event in Miami.

Despite Chelsea’s interest, Simons decided to remain in Catalonia, later moving to Paris Saint-Germain at 16. This summer, Chelsea remained interested as it became clear Leipzig was open to offers for the Netherlands international forward.

Now 22, Simons is a seasoned player. He’s the type of player Spurs seek, with room for growth. While he might not have Eze’s spectacular flair, he possesses the vision and stamina that align with Thomas Frank’s demanding play style.

Simons plays with intensity and, though he’s not large, isn’t a typical luxury playmaker. The fast-paced and physical nature of the Premier League is unlikely to be an issue for him.

He is well-suited to fit into the No 10 role in the 4-2-3-1 setup that Tottenham has used in their first two matches this Premier League season, where he’ll compete against Pape Matar Sarr or Lucas Bergvall.

Or operating from the left flank, where Brennan Johnson was the starter against Burnley and Manchester City, scoring in both games.

For either Johnson and Sarr to find their places under threat after starting well under Frank might seem unfair but it is all about depth for the Spurs boss, who wants options to flex tactically from one opponent to another and make changes from the bench within games.

‘It depends on the game and the other players around him,’ said Frank when asked in his pre-Bournemouth press briefing to describe the qualities he wanted in his No 10, before going on to explain that if the two deepest midfielders liked to go forward, then he might like his 10 to be more industrious than creative – but if his front three were very hard-working, he might be tempted to accommodate more flair in the 10.

‘I’m not looking at “what I want from the 10?” because what I want I don’t think it’s possible to get,’ Frank said. ‘Because he would be a running machine and a pressing machine, and unbelievably creative, some who can do headers, put it in the top corner and score a lot of tap-ins. That would be the perfect player and there are not too many of those players.

‘Modern football is much more flexible and the front three now need to play on the wing and as the striker.’

If it is a moving feast, then Simons will at least bring something different to the table.

He arrives, too, with something of a point still to prove because for all the hype about his wonderkid potential and exciting flourishes of promise during a season at PSV Eindhoven and during his first season on loan at Leipzig from PSG it has been a restless career.

Almost as if he has been searching for somewhere to consider home. He was born in Amsterdam, named after former Barcelona maestro Xavi Hernandez and moved to Alicante in the south of Spain when he was three years old, when his father’s career as a professional footballer ended.

Regillio Simons was a centre forward, best remembered in his native Netherlands for the first of his two spells at Fortuna Sittard, before becoming a respected youth development coach who worked in the Ajax academy.

Among his coaching roles at senior level was five months in charge of Volendam, the first club of Simons Jnr’s new team-mate Micky van de Ven.

There was a time when Regillio helped his son navigate football’s pitfalls. He took Xavi first into Villarreal’s youth system, where he was playing for the Under 9s at the age of six, and then moved him to Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy and fielded much of the attention when he was a 12-year-old in demand from clubs including Chelsea and Real Madrid.

These days, Xavi’s older brother Faustino manages his affairs and has been integral to the move from Leipzig to Tottenham. Simons becomes a third senior recruit of the summer, after Mohamed Kudus from West Ham and Joao Palhinha, initially on loan, from Bayern Munich.

Spurs will remain in the market ahead of the transfer deadline, still looking to improve the options in attack, but Frank revealed it was not a priority to reinforce in central defence, even though Luka Vuskovic is close to a loan move to Hamburg, and his club have been linked to the likes of Manuel Akanji of Manchester City. For now, 

‘Not as it stands,’ said the Spurs boss when quizzed on another centre half amid links to Manuel Akanji of Manchester City. ‘We have right now three centre backs: Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Kevin Danso.

‘Ben Davies can play there if necessary. We have Kota Takai, the young central defender we bought in the summer, who is now running and should be training with the team next week, then Radu Dragusin back in a couple of months so that should be enough.’