Mo Salah was late to the game, but a distant front-runner has emerged as Europe’s premier assist provider in 2024, with Kevin de Bruyne finally falling off the top of the list.
De Bruyne is expected to regain the title he won for Manchester City in 2022, while Joey Wellman won it for PSV in 2023, but he is now a long way from sharing second place.
Criteria: All clubs provide assists in all competitions for teams from the top 10 European leagues.
10) Lamine Yamar (Barcelona) – 18 assists
La Liga’s assists leader despite a dip in form under the weight of Diego Simeone’s huge Cojones.
9) Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid) – 18 assists
It will be interesting to see how long this Ballon d’Or boycott lasts, and whether Vinicius continues to exist. One of the favorites for the 2025 award.
8) Bruno Fernandez (Manchester United) – 18 assists
Even in this Manchester United team, he created chances. He also throws things and can be a huge liability. But boy did he create chances.
7) Omar Mamouch (Eintracht Frankfurt) – 18 assists
Nottingham Forest made a bid for the 25-year-old this summer, but rather than warming up the bench as Chris Wood’s understudy, Mamouch stayed on to continue his fine form, adding Arsenal and Liverpool are among his potential suitors.
6) Dusan Tadic (Fenerbahçe) – 19 assists
That included assists from Fred and Alain Saint-Maximin, with the 36-year-old thriving under Mourinho’s tactical freedom.
5) Trincao (Sporting Lisbon) – 19 assists
Trincao made 30 appearances for Wolves and provided one assist in Jonny Otto’s eventual defeat to Leeds United, but he has injected enthusiasm into an in-form team in Europe.
4) Mo Salah (Liverpool) – 19 assists
Analysts may consider his age more cautiously when approaching contract negotiations, but Salah is 32 and he’s not slowing down. This season alone, he has played 23 games for Liverpool, contributing 16 goals and 13 assists. Who would be crazy enough to let him leave for nothing?.
3) Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) – 19 assists
There’s the added bonus of playing behind a robot, which accounts for half of the assists – De Bruyne set up Haaland four times in February’s FA Cup win over Luton – but the Belgian also assisted Phoebe Phil Foden, Josco Gvaldiol and Bernardo Silva twice in 2024, John Stones, Oscar Bobb, Julian Alvarez and Jeremy Dou The library only exists once.
De Bruyne has been almost slowed down by age, injuries and being part of one of the worst teams in Europe.
2) Alejandro Grimaldo (Leverkusen) – 20 assists
Grimaldo is one of the most important cogs in Xabi Alonso’s machine and has cost nothing until the summer of 2023 after his contract with Benfica expires, but now he has a huge interest in the Bundesliga champions Said it was worth a lot of money. The left-back has carried on the Leverkusen tradition admirably, assisting in stoppage time goals against Augsburg, Leipzig, Qarabag and setting up Patrick Schiff in the DFB-Pokal final against Stuttgart. K equalized the score.
1) Dries Mertens (Galatasaray) – 24 assists
After winning the Turkish Super League in his later years, Mertens is undoubtedly enjoying himself. Ten of those assists were recorded in eight games between early March and mid-May, helping Galatasaray to an impressive title run. More inspired their defense to a stunning unbeaten start. Two of those came in the Europa League against Tottenham.
