While teams around Europe will be salivating over the prospect of Kylian Mbappe being a free agency next summer, Chelsea might consider making an offer for another player on the roster of the Parc des Princes team.
Xavi Simons thrived while on loan with RB Leipzig to start the season. Only Erling Haaland and Paco Alcacer, both of Borussia Dortmund, have ever had such a huge impact in such a short period of time in the history of the Bundesliga.
Although he has only played in four German games, the 20-year-old, whose Expected Transfer Value (xTV) is €32 million, has already assisted on seven goals. Amazingly, despite a disastrous debut, he has found success.
But since then, he has scored and provided an assist in three straight games and, for good measure, added a second crucial pass against Stuttgart.
On Saturday, he defeated Augsburg 3-0 to continue his winning streak.
Simons may have been acquired by PSG, but there are signs that the Netherlands star is undecided about committing his future to the Parisian club. In fact, there were worries that he wouldn’t exercise a €15 million option to return to the squad from PSV the summer before.
Moving might now become a possibility by the summer.
The right decision for Chelsea Simons
According to data analytics experts SciSports, Simons has the best prospects at moving up in terms of the class of the team he plays for with Chelsea.
Given his youth, he satisfies Chelsea’s criteria for a player, and the Blues have the highest rating of any Premier League team in SciSports’ career counseling tool.
He also provides the decisive edge in the last third that the Stamford Bridge club so urgently needs, despite not being a center forward.
Chelsea, though, faces opposition. Newcastle is only somewhat above them in the rankings. The Magpies will compete in the Champions League this year and are gaining recognition.
The best major club for Simons after these groups is PSG, who is followed closely by Barcelona and Bayern Munich, who have a reputation for luring the best players out of the Bundesliga in recent years.
If Chelsea did not already have Simons on their radar as a player to watch this season, they would be reckless.
