Tottenham have announced that Xavi Simmons will undergo surgery after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, ruling him out for the rest of the season and the World Cup in a huge blow to Spurs’ hopes of staying.
Dutch playmaker Simons collapsed on his right knee in the 58th minute of Saturday’s 1-0 win over Wolves, giving Spurs their first Premier League win of 2026.
After Simmons went to the floor in a collision with Wolves defender Hugo Bueno, the 23-year-old tried to run away from his injury but collapsed in front of Tottenham’s medical staff, who subsequently left Molineux on a stretcher.
Spurs playmaker Xavi Simmons appeared to injure his knee while trying to win the ball and left the Wolves pitch on a stretcher.
Simmons’ absence is just the latest injury for Spurs, who sit two points behind with four games remaining after summer signing Mohamed Kudus and captain Cristian Romero were appointed for the remainder of the season in De Zerbi’s first month as manager.
Spurs confirmed the severity of Simmons’ injury on Monday morning, saying he will undergo surgery “in the coming weeks” before beginning rehabilitation with the club’s medical team.
Simmons revealed in an Instagram post on Sunday night that he would not be fit enough to play in Spurs’ final four league games of the season or this summer’s World Cup in Holland.
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Free to watch: Premier League highlights of Wolves vs. Tottenham Hotspur
“They often say that life can be cruel, but that’s how I feel today. My season came to an abrupt end and I’m just trying to process it,” said the former Paris Saint-Germain player.
“Honestly, it’s heartbreaking. None of it makes sense.
“All I wanted to do was fight for the team, but now that ability has been taken away from me with the World Cup.”
Spurs have an extensive injury list
Symonds endured a frustrating debut for England and only showed flashes of class under Thomas Frank before being strangely frozen out by Igor Tudor, but he looked ready to play a key role at De Zerbi, especially after his stunning strike in the 2-2 draw at home to Brighton.
Instead, Simmons will play no role in Spurs’ desperate bid to overturn a two-goal deficit with 17th-placed West Ham to avoid relegation for the first time in 49 years.
Simmons added, “It will take time to resolve this issue, but I will continue to be the best teammate I can be. I believe that together we will win this battle.”
“My faith has led me now to walk this path with strength, resilience, and conviction as I count down the days until I get back there. Please be patient.”
Spurs may pay the ‘ultimate price’ due to injury problems
Former Spurs manager Tim Sherwood talks about Sky Sports FC:
“Tottenham have been struggling all season with injuries, so it can’t be unlucky.
“They need to take a look and look at what’s going on with their players, because anyone can get injured through contact, but a lot of these injuries aren’t due to contact.
“Those are sprains and soft tissue injuries. And ultimately the price, the ultimate price is relegation.”
“If you’re a manager, your players, the best players, keep getting injured and you can’t get them back to fitness.
“Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison, it’s been a long time since they’ve been injured, so we’ll have to look at them closely in the summer.”
Tottenham have 4 games left to avoid relegation
Spurs’ lingering injury problems ‘need to be looked at’
Sky Sports News reporter Michael Bridge, Sky Sports FC:
“If Tottenham are relegated, three big names could still remain at the Championship club: James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Xavi Simmons.
“This is a torn ACL for Simmons. You can forget about it this year. It’s over.
“So when you look at his wages and everything else, you have to take into account the financial aspects. Unfortunately,[Spurs’ lingering injury problems]have to be taken into account. This is ridiculous now.”
“When I see (Simmons’ injury), I think, ‘Why is he walking? Why are they (the medical team) letting him walk?'” I’m just asking the question out loud here.
“It looked awful, and it was the worst thing possible.”
“A rocky first season for Simmons”
Michael Bridge on Sky Sports News:
“We forget how young he (Simmons) is and how difficult it is to move to the Premier League, so it was a bit of an up and down first season for him.
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Simmons led Tottenham with a fantastic goal against Brighton in the Premier League
“He’s been there on the wings and wide, but he showed even more of that this season when he was playing in the Champions League with Spurs.
“But in recent weeks he has really come into his own under Roberto de Zerbi. He scored a really good goal against Brighton.”
“Really, it was a great goal out of nothing and it’s exactly the little bits of brilliance that he can do that Spurs are going to miss in the next few games.
“Guys have to step up, but he’s going to have to mix and match it a little bit more because we don’t have a lot of that creativity on the team.
“It’s going to be a difficult few weeks because he doesn’t have a lot of guys he can bring back from the bench. That injury list is just ridiculous.”
