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 leads the race to be crowned the most creative player in Europe, but Kylian Mbappé is now making a late surge to challenge him in the standings.
Bayern 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 numbers are slowing down at a pivotal stage of the campaign and his last league assist came back on January 15.
Bayern won 4-1 at Freiburg on Saturday with Muller playing the full 90 minutes, but he did not directly create any of his team’s goals.
It was the eighth consecutive Bundesliga appearance for Müller without registering an assist.
The experienced attacker had gone into the International break with a lead of five over his closest rivals, but Mbappe has now cut that advantage to just two assists.
PSG striker Mbappe produced a magnificent individual performance against Lorient on Sunday, scoring twice and setting up three goals in a 5-1 win.
With 14 assists in Ligue 1, the World Cup winner has already doubled his total for last season and registered the best tally of his career to date.
PSG still have eight matches to play, so at this rate Mbappe could well be the man to stop Muller’s incredible run in this award.
There are four players with 11 assists in a tie for third place: Christopher Nkunku, Benjamin Bourigeaud, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Karim Benzema
Nkunku set up two goals and scored another in RB Leipzig’s 4-1 thrashing of Dortmund as he continues to emerge as one of Europe’s most wanted players in the transfer market.
Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele has joined Lionel Messi in a big group of players with 10 assists.
Dembele had two assists in the 4-0 El Clasico victory over Real Madrid and followed that performance up with an assist for the only goal in Barca’s 1-0 triumph against Sevilla last time out.
He is finding form at the right time, having also registered two assists in Barcelona’s clash with Osasuna on March 13.
2021/22 European Assist Kings
| Player | Team | Assists |
| Thomas Muller | Bayern | 16 |
| Kylian Mbappe | PSG | 14 |
| Karim Benzema | Real Madrid | 11 |
| Trent Alexander-Arnold | Liverpool | 11 |
| Christopher Nkunku | Leipzig | 11 |
| Benjamin Bourigeaud | Stade Rennais | 11 |
| Lionel Messi | PSG | 10 |
| Ousmane Dembele | Barcelona | 10 |
| Andrew Robertson | Liverpool | 10 |
| Domenico Berardi | Sassuolo | 10 |
| Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | 10 |
| Florian Wirtz | Bayer Leverkusen | 10 |
| Joshua Kimmich | Bayern | 9 |
| Paul Pogba | Man Utd | 9 |
| Moussa Diaby | Bayer Leverkusen | 9 |
| Oscar Trejo | Rayo Vallecano | 9 |
| Dimitri Payet | Marseille | 9 |
| Jonathan Clauss | Lens | 9 |
| Sergej Milinkovic-Savic | Lazio | 9 |
| Nicolo Barella | Inter | 9 |
| Marco Reus | Dortmund | 8 |
| David Raum | Hoffenheim | 8 |
| Antonio Candreva | Sampdoria | 8 |
| Jarrod Bowen | West Ham | 8 |
| Hakan Calhanoglu | Inter | 8 |
| Filip Kostic | Frankfurt | 8 |
| Lovro Majer | Stade Rennais | 8 |
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.