Saviola Simons

He came through RKSV Pancratius before AZ Alkmaar picked him up in 2019, and the club made its intent clear on 28 March 2024, when it signed the defender to his first professional contract, running to the end of June 2027, while he was still playing youth football.

Across 2024/2025 he was a regular for AZ Alkmaar's under-19s in the UEFA Youth League, and the following season he pushed his numbers further, adding a goal and three assists in six Youth League appearances for the same age group. It was enough to earn him a step up to Jong AZ, the club's reserve side in the Eerste Divisie, where he has featured six times and set up a goal, before opening the 2026/2027 campaign with a further appearance for the second team.

The Netherlands has tracked him through its youth ranks too, with a cap for the under-16s in 2023 and two more for the under-18s in the following year's international window.

There is a family thread running through his career as well: Saviola Simons is a cousin of the midfielder Xavi Simons, a name that inevitably follows him given the shared surname, though his own path so far has been built through AZ's academy rather than any comparison.

No trophies or individual honours sit on his record yet. At 19, his story so far is one of gradual promotion — from a boyhood club, into a professional contract, and now into senior football with Jong AZ, one level below where his development began.