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 and Lionel Messi continue to make late surges 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 only won 1-0 against Augsburg on Saturday, with their goal coming via a Robert Lewandowski penalty.
Müller played for 90 minutes but it was his ninth consecutive Bundesliga appearance for Bayern without registering an assist.
Despite his recent stumble, 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 one assist.
PSG striker Mbappe scored a hat-trick and added an assist as PSG thrashed Clermont Foot 6-1 on Saturday.
That came a week after he produced a magnificent individual performance against Lorient, scoring twice and setting up three goals in a 5-1 win.
With 15 assists in Ligue 1, the World Cup winner has already more than doubled his total for last season and registered the best tally of his career to date.
PSG still have seven matches to play compared to five for Bayern, so at this rate Mbappe has every chance to stop Muller’s incredible run in this award.
Messi is still in with a chance as well after he sensationally set up three of the six PSG goals scored at Clermont.
While he has struggled to score goals in France, Messi has continued his career trend of being a superb creator, with 13 top-flight assists to his name this season, putting him just three off the lead.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has the most Premier League assists with 12, putting him in a tie for fourth position with in-form RB Leipzig star Christopher Nkunku.
There is then an impressive quartet with 11 assists: Ousmane Dembele, Mohamed Salah, Karim Benzema and Benjamin Bourigeaud.
Dembele and Benzema are tied for the lead for goals created in the Primera Division.
Barcelona winger Dembele is finding form at the right time. Since February 20, he has racked up nine assists in only seven La Liga games.
That remarkable streak included two assists in the 4-0 El Clasico victory over Real Madrid and one in the dramatic 3-2 win at Levante last time out.
Domenico Berardi (10) has the most assists in Serie A so far this season.
2021/22 European Assist Kings
| Player | Team | Assists |
| Thomas Muller | Bayern | 16 |
| Kylian Mbappe | PSG | 15 |
| Lionel Messi | PSG | 13 |
| Trent Alexander-Arnold | Liverpool | 12 |
| Christopher Nkunku | Leipzig | 12 |
| Karim Benzema | Real Madrid | 11 |
| Ousmane Dembele | Barcelona | 11 |
| Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | 11 |
| Benjamin Bourigeaud | Stade Rennais | 11 |
| Andrew Robertson | Liverpool | 10 |
| Domenico Berardi | Sassuolo | 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 | 9 |
| 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.