Signing for PSV Eindhoven on a free from Paris Saint-Germain last summer, Xavi Simons had a first season to remember in Holland.
The midfielder scored 22 goals and assisted another 12 in all competitions over the course of 48 appearances, and that caught the attention of Arsenal.
This isn’t the first time the Gunners have been linked with the Dutchman, but L’Equipe remind their readers about it on Monday, and bring some very interesting information.
While Paris Saint-Germain have a buy-back clause of €6m, there is another stipulation that Simons made when he signed with PSV that could really help Arsenal.
The French newspaper explain that when he signed his five-year contract, the midfielder knew he was ‘in a position of strength’, and that’s why he can ‘force’ the Eredivisie side to ‘consider any offer from another club of an amount minimum of €4m’, and this ‘over the entire duration of his contract’.
This means that, technically, if Arsenal were to put €4m forward for Simons, he could tell PSV to consider it because he wants to move there.
Whether he would actually do that remains to be seen, but the player has planned to reconvene with his agents once he returns from holidays, and ‘if clubs position themselves and offer him a nice opportunity, he will listen to them’.
That’s when Arsenal are mentioned as being ‘in the running’, but it’s made clear that Simons would only leave if he was guaranteed an ‘important amount of minutes and an important role’ in his new team, much like he has at PSV.
