Wayne Rooney Meets…Xavi Simons: What It’s REALLY Like Being a Wonderkid
Football Daily
BBC
4.3 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 27 December 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Wayne Rooney, Kelly Somers and Kae Kurd sit down with Xavi Simons at Tottenham’s training ground for a rare and revealing conversation.
Xavi reflects on his journey from child prodigy with 2 million Instagram followers at 12, to international star navigating moves from the Netherlands to Barcelona, PSG, Leipzig and now London. He shares what it was like leaving Barça at 16, walking into a PSG dressing room with Neymar and Mbappé, and why Neymar became a mentor.
He opens up about choosing Tottenham, his Premier League ambitions, and the player who’s impressed him most in England. Plus, Wayne recalls Ruud van Nistelrooy’s fiery clashes with Cristiano Ronaldo, his childhood idol Duncan Ferguson, and even the time Barcelona’s goalkeeper drove over his foot.
You can watch The Wayne Rooney Show on BBC Sport YouTube, iPlayer, as well as listen on BBC Sounds.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | Ellis, our podcast is over 500 episodes old. |
| 0:10.0 | But what have we learnt? |
| 0:11.0 | Ellis James and John Robbins. |
| 0:13.0 | I've learnt that when you're doing live radio, if somebody texts in in block capitals, it's very really a good sign. |
| 0:18.0 | We've had a confused text and it says, I want to listen to this rubbish. |
| 0:22.0 | I learned that if you lose to lose Sanders in a board game and don't mention her on the show, |
| 0:26.3 | you are going to get an unexpected call. |
| 0:28.4 | Oh dear, very dear. |
| 0:31.1 | Ellis James and John Robbins, 500 not out. |
| 0:34.1 | Lovely stuff. |
| 0:35.5 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:41.3 | And for me, it was like more more I just want to play football. That is the part that you have to do. |
| 0:43.3 | I got death threats in my parents' house, |
| 0:47.3 | he was getting spray painted. |
| 0:49.3 | Because he was there, some Veretti and other guys, |
| 0:51.3 | Tiago Silva, Marquino, San Bapé, Neymar. |
| 0:55.0 | What was that like walking in the first day? |
| 0:57.0 | He actually went to jail and I was a young boy, |
| 1:01.0 | he supported him, so he used to write to him in jail. |
| 1:04.0 | And then he'd write back. |
| 1:06.0 | What were the letter saying? |
... |
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