The battle to be crowned European Assists King for the 2021/22 season is well over the halfway mark now and there is a familiar face at the top of the leaderboard.
Thomas Müller has been the man to beat over recent years, impressively being named the continent’s top creative player for two straight seasons despite the Bundesliga having only 34 games rather than the 38 of many other major leagues.
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So, he headed into this season as one of the top candidates to produce the most assists in Europe.
European Golden Shoe: 2021/22 standings and award history
The 2021/22 European Assist King award will be won by the player who provides the most assists in the top-five European leagues – the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1.
There are no coefficients or scales used for these leagues – just ranking the most goals created by each player in the top-five leagues condensed into a single table.
We will also track the players who produce the most assists in each of those five divisions individually, so stay tuned to this page for the latest standings throughout the campaign.
MOST ASSISTS IN EUROPE 2021/22
Thomas Muller is pulling clear at the top of the European Assist King table and is now on an incredible 16 assists for the season.
The Bayern Munich forward has been in superb form for the German giants in 2021-22, showing no signs of ageing at all as he continues to provide assists for Robert Lewandowski & Co.
In joint-second place, Liverpool’s Trent-Alexander Arnold, Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe and Bayer Leverkusen wonderkid Florian Wirtz are on 10 assists each in what has been a comeback season for the right-back.
In pursuit of the top four are five players on nine assists; Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, Sassuolo’s Domenico Berardi, Marseille’s Dimitri Payet, Lens’ Jonathan Clauss and Rayo Vallecano veteran Oscar Trejo.
There are four players in Europe’s top five leagues on eight assists; Lazio’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Inter‘s Hakan Calhanoglu, West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen and another Liverpool player in Andrew Robertson.
There are a whole host of players on seven assists, including Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, Manchester United playmaker Paul Pogba, Man City‘s Gabriel Jesus, Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunk, Inter‘s Nicolo Barella and a certain Lionel Messi of PSG.
2021/22 European Assist Kings
| Player | Team | Assists |
| Thomas Muller | Bayern | 16 |
| Trent Alexander-Arnold | Liverpool | 10 |
| Kylian Mbappe | PSG | 10 |
| Florian Wirtz | Bayer Leverkusen | 10 |
| Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | 9 |
| Domenico Berardi | Sassuolo | 9 |
| Oscar Trejo | Rayo Vallecano | 9 |
| Dimitri Payet | Marseille | 9 |
| Jonathan Clauss | Lens | 9 |
| Andrew Robertson | Liverpool | 8 |
| Jarrod Bowen | West Ham | 8 |
| Hakan Calhanoglu | Inter | 8 |
| Sergej Milinkovic-Savic | Lazio | 8 |
| Paul Pogba | Man Utd | 7 |
| Gabriel Jesus | Man City | 7 |
| Karim Benzema | Real Madrid | 7 |
| Antonio Candreva | Sampdoria | 7 |
| Nicolo Barella | Inter | 7 |
| Luis Alberto | Lazio | 7 |
| Jordan Veretout | Roma | 7 |
| Leroy Sane | Bayern | 7 |
| Andrej Kramaric | Hoffenheim | 7 |
| Filip Kostic | Frankfurt | 7 |
| Karim Onisiwo | Mainz | 7 |
| Christopher Nkunku | Leipzig | 7 |
| Lionel Messi | PSG | 7 |
| Ludovic Ajorque | Strasbourg | 7 |
| Amine Gouiri | Nice | 7 |
Who had the most assists in previous seasons?
2020/21: Thomas Müller, Bayern (19 assists)
2019/20: Thomas Müller, Bayern (21 assists)
2018/19: Eden Hazard, Chelsea (15 assists)
2017/18: Kevin De Bruyne, Man City (16 assists)
Thomas Müller has been named the European Assists King in each of the last two seasons (2019/20 and 2020/21), as he recorded 40 assists across those campaigns in the Bundesliga.
The Bayern star finished five assists clear of joint runners-up Harry Kane and Filip Kostic last season, with 19 goals created in total.
Premier League Golden Boot: Current standings and past winners
Iago Aspas (13) had the most assists in La Liga last season, while Ruslan Malinovskiy and Memphis Depay (both 12) topped the assist charts in Serie A and Ligue 1 respectively.
Muller’s first crown came when he had 21 assists to only just beat Lionel Messi, who had 20 in La Liga 2019/20 for Barcelona. Kevin De Bruyne was another to narrowly miss out after he also set up 20 goals and topped the Premier League charts.
The award for most creative player in Europe in 2018/19 went to Eden Hazard. He had 15 assists for Chelsea, meaning he narrowly beat Jadon Sancho (14) and Ryan Fraser (14) to the award.
De Bruyne had the most assists in Europe during 2017/18. He created 16 goals for his Man City team-mates. Leroy Sane (15), Dimitri Payet (14) and Luis Alberto (14) all narrowly missed out.
What is an assist?
An assist in football is usually credited to the player who plays the final pass or cross before a goal is scored. A player may receive recognition for creating a goal by being awarded an assist even if the pass or touch they have made to set up the goalscorer is unintentional.
There can be slight differences in how assists are recorded and allocated depending on the criteria of each official competition. For example, if a player’s pass towards a goalscorer takes a deflection on its way to the intended target, an assist is often not credited. A player who wins a penalty that is then scored does not usually get an assist either.
As well as a recognised official statistic, assists are often important in fantasy football games and betting markets.