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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Müller therefore headed into this season as one of the top candidates to produce the most assists in Europe.
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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.
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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 Müller still leads the race to be crowned the most creative player in Europe, but Trent Alexander-Arnold is part of the group trying to chase the Bayern star down.
German forward Müller has the most assists in Europe’s top five leagues with 16 for the Bundesliga season as he seeks a historic third straight European Assists King title.
However, the 32-year-old’s pace had slowed of late and his last league assist came back on January 15.
Müller has seen his lead cut to just five assists over Liverpool defender Alexander-Arnold and PSG forward Kylian Mbappe.
Alexander-Arnold created Sadio Mane’s winner against West Ham on Saturday to reach 11 assists – the best Premier League total this season and the third time in four years the Englishman has reached double figures for goals created.
Mbappe has also had an impressive creative campaign and tops the Ligue 1 charts, but it is his PSG team-mate Lionel Messi who has been attracting the most attention for his assists of late.
Messi had registered an assist in five consecutive Ligue 1 matches (six total), though the streak ended in the 1-0 loss at Nice on Saturday.
Since the start of 2022, Messi has more assists than any other player in the top five European leagues. He has surpassed the total of nine assists he got in his last season at Barcelona.
Messi has always had a creative streak, reaching an incredible 20 assists in the 2019/20 season, when he narrowly missed out on this crown to Müller (21).
Another Liverpool star, Mohamed Salah, is part of a star-studded group of five players sitting on 10 assists.
Salah, Messi, top Primera Division creator Karim Benzema, Florian Wirtz and Serie A assists leader Domenico Berardi are all sitting six assists behind Müller, so there continues to be plenty of competition towards the top.
Man Utd midfielder Paul Pogba is up to nine assists after setting up Jadon Sancho’s goal in an otherwise miserable 4-1 Manchester derby defeat to Man City on Sunday.
2021/22 European Assist Kings
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.