Paris (AFP)

Expected as one of the stars of tomorrow, the Dutchman Xavi Simons (18) took advantage of the absence of many executives to show himself this summer with Paris SG, where he hopes to grab some playing time, starting with the Champions Trophy Sunday.

Marco Verratti, Giorginio Wijnaldum, Leandro Paredes ... The Parisian tauliers of the midfield, retained by the Euro or the Copa America, missed a large part of the preparation.

If this is a tactical puzzle for coach Mauricio Pochettino, far from having his best elements against Lille in Tel Aviv, for the "Titis" trained at the club, the summer period has been full of opportunities.

"It was a bit of a special preparation, but there was a lot of quality, and listening young people who worked well. They are there to show that they also have their role to play", noted the Senegalese Idrissa Gueye.

Ismaël Gharbi, El Chadaille Bitshiabu, Edouard Michut, Nathan Bitumazala, all took part in the pre-season friendly matches, most of them remaining unknown faces to the general public.

Simons is an exception.

And this is not explained by the fifteen minutes played against Caen for his first professional match on February 10 in the Coupe de France, nor by those gleaned in Strasbourg for his first appearance in Ligue 1 two months later.

- More followed than OM -

Barely adult, the Dutch U17 international (1.68 m) recognizable by his long blonde and curly hair is already famous, at least on social networks.

With 3.4 million subscribers on Instagram, the native of Amsterdam has almost twice as many "followers" as the Olympique de Marseille.

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He put his popularity to good use by becoming in May one of Unicef's ambassadors in the Netherlands against online harassment or discrimination.

This reputation, Xavi Simons inherited it from his time at Masia, the prestigious training center of FC Barcelona, ​​which he joined at the age of seven, in 2010.

Presented as a future "crack" by the Blaugranas, the player advised by the powerful agent Mino Raiola chose in 2019 to sign with PSG, without going through the pro box in Catalonia.

Since then, if Simons has evolved with the U19, until becoming captain, he began to appear more often in the professional group after Pochettino arrived on the bench in early 2021.

- In the middle, it jostles -

For 2021-2022, his preparation, punctuated by two goals and an assist, draws an upward trajectory for the player whose contract expires in 2022.

"The main players were absent since they were with their national team. I therefore think that we should seize this opportunity", he reacted on PSG TV after the meeting against Le Mans (4-0) on July 14.

"He is the most likely to find playing time this season," AFP analysis Eric Rabesandratana, former Parisian defender now consultant for France Bleu Paris.

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However, the future seems complicated in the middle, "there are still priorities in front of him, leading and more experienced players who are at his post," adds the former Red and Blue.

With the arrival of Wijnaldum, and especially since no departure has been recorded, it is the traffic jam in the midfield of PSG which, in recent seasons, has struggled to give playing time to his "Titis".

Tanguy Nianzou, Adil Aouchiche, Jonathan Ikoné, Moussa Diaby, Christopher Nkunku, Yacine Adli ... Since 2018 there have been more and more examples of promising young people from the training center who have gone to seek play time elsewhere.

"It will depend on the workforce we will have at the end of the transfer window (which ends on August 31, Editor's note), we will see if they will have more or less space. I hope they will have some. so that they continue to develop, "Pochettino explained on Friday.

But for Simons first emerges a new opportunity with PSG: the Champions Trophy on Sunday in Tel Aviv against Lille, before the return of the tauliers.

© 2021 AFP