Xavi Simons is making the most of his time on the sidelines by signing up for a course at Harvard University in the United States. The Tottenham midfielder has been out since tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in April, a setback that kept him out of the World Cup with the Netherlands and is likely to rule him out until early 2027. Rather than letting the layoff drag him down, the 23-year-old is treating it as a chance to grow and prepare for life after football.
He has enrolled on Harvard’s Crossover into Business programme, which helps athletes build their commercial skills. As part of it, the former Paris Saint-Germain player will be matched with a Harvard MBA student who will act as his mentor.
Announcing the move on LinkedIn, Simons explained that he wanted to spend his recovery productively. He stressed that football remains his top priority and that returning to the pitch is his main goal, but said he has always had interests beyond the game. He wants a better grasp of the business side of football, to learn from people in other industries and to keep developing as a person.
Simons recently travelled to the US as part of his rehabilitation and visited Harvard’s Boston campus. He said he spent several weeks on both the East and West Coasts, meeting new people and seeing different ways of working, which gave him plenty of fresh ideas. He added that the experience felt particularly meaningful because of Professor Anita Elberse, whom he first met during his Barcelona days and again at PSG. The pair have stayed in contact, so catching up with her in Boston was a special moment.
The injury happened in Tottenham’s vital win at Wolves, as the club fought to avoid relegation at the end of last season. Simons later confirmed on Instagram that he would miss the last four league games as well as the World Cup. He described himself as heartbroken, said the news was hard to process, and admitted it felt cruel that his chance to fight for his team and play on the world stage had been taken away so suddenly.
