European Assists King 2023/24: Which players created the most goals?

Carlo Garganese

• 27 May 2024 12:08 BST
• 9 min read

Achieving the most assists in Europe is no easy task, but the departure of Lionel Messi made the challenge slightly more doable for the top football stars on the continent.

Messi's exit from Paris Saint-Germain to Inter Miami in MLS means the Argentina star, who has been one of the best creative players in Europe's top five leagues for more than a decade, is no longer part of this competition.

However, Messi did finish on a high in the European Assists King award.

He had 16 assists for PSG in Ligue 1 last season and was the joint winner along with Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne and Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann.

Messi set the all-time record for La Liga assists (192) during his time with Barcelona and remained one of Europe's most creative players at PSG.

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With Messi no longer in the running, De Bruyne and Griezmann were again among the contenders for success this season, as were former winners Thomas Muller and Kylian Mbappe.

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah was another notable player with a good career record for goals created.

Assists are a more variable statistic than goals, so there was always the chance that a surprise contender could emerge once the season got going, and that proved to be the case.

MORE: Who has the most Premier League assists?

The 2023/24 European Assist King award is 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.

READ MORE: Manchester United top scorers 2023/24

We also tracked the players who produced the most assists in each of those five divisions individually and this page was updated with the latest standings throughout the campaign. With the campaign now over, let's see who came out on top.

Who has the most assists in Europe?

Leroy Sane was one of the players with the most assists in Europe for the 2023/24 season, although after he only created one goal in his last 11 Bayern Munich league games, he was beaten to this award despite leading the standings for much of the campaign.

He ended up behind Alejandro Grimaldo at the top of the Bundesliga creative charts and was level with Xavi Simons.

Ollie Watkins finished top of the Premier League's assist rankings, seeing off competition from the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Cole Palmer, Kieran Trippier and Mohamed Salah.

There was huge group of players in the chasing pack as the race to record the most assists in Europe continued right up until the final weeks of the campaign.

And ultimately it was Alex Baena of Villarreal who finished first in the European Assists King award standings, triumphing for the first time with 14 assists.

That is the lowest winning total in award history, though it was also one of the most competitive races we have seen, with 23 players hitting double figures for assists.

No players from Serie A or Ligue 1 made it into the final standings.

In Italy it was Paulo Dybala (Roma) and Rafael Leao (AC Milan) who finished joint top with nine assists.

In France, there were four players level at the top with a total of just eight goals created. They were Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ousmane Dembele, Angel Gomes and Romain Del Castillo.

For the award as a whole, Liverpool star Salah was once again a contender.

He impressed as Liverpool won 3-1 at Wolves in September. Salah set up two goals in the contest at Molineux and also had assists against Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Man City, Brentford and Tottenham this season, on top of registering a goal created in both the home and away league matches against Newcastle.

Jeremy Doku propelled himself towards the top of the standings by becoming the youngest player to record four assists in a single Premier League game when Man City defeated Bournemouth 6-1 in November, but he has faded as a creative force of late and missed out on the final cut.

So too did Bayern's Thomas Muller (nine assists) and Tottenham attacking midfielder James Maddison.

Maddison set up both of his team's goals in their dramatic 2-2 draw away to Brentford in the Premier League on week one of the season.

As Spurs tried to cope with the departure of Harry Kane, they were reliant on Maddison's contribution both as a scorer and a goal creator in 2023/24. He set up two more goals in Spurs' thrilling 2-2 derby draw at Arsenal and got another assist against Luton Town before being sidelined by injury. He made a good return but could only get up to nine goals created after missing time.

Simons, who is on loan at RB Leipzig from PSG, led the way for much of the season in Germany with Sane. He had two assists in the 5-1 win over Stuttgart in the second week of the season and kicked on from there, including having another two goals created as Leipzig thrashed Cologne 6-0 in October.

Sane had consecutive two-assist games in the Bundesliga against Borussia Dortmund and Heidenheim during the month of November and looked like a possible winner.

He had racked up his eighth assist of the campaign by the time Bayern beat Stuttgart 3-0 prior to the winter break. He then hit the ground running in his first game back, becoming the first player in Europe's top five leagues to hit double figures for assists with two goals created in his side's 3-0 home win over Hoffenheim on January 12.

But his form and fitness dipped from then as Bayern struggled to keep pace with Leverkusen in the title race, despite the goals of Golden Shoe winner Kane.

In-form Borussia Dortmund midfielder Julian Brandt impressed as he moved on to 11 assists, and a number of Bundesliga stars performed strongly with Leverkusen team-mates Grimaldo and Florian Wirtz also starring in the rankings for most goals created.

But Baena is the player across Europe's top five leagues who has been named the most creative player on the continent.

The 22-year-old Spain international had four assists in his first six La Liga games this season.

A quieter mid-season period included a red card against Getafe, but he was still creating enough goals to feature regularly in the standings.

However, it was only towards the end of the campaign when he emerged as a strong contender and ultimately the winner.

Baena created all three of his team’s goals in the 3-0 win over Rayo Vallecano on April 28 and then got assists against Sevilla and Osasuna in May to ensure he just defeated Watkins and Grimaldo.

Having only had two assists for Villarreal last season, few would have expected Baena to reach such strong numbers in 2023/24, but a fine creative campaign means he has made history and is now likely to emerge as a high-profile transfer target.

Most Assists in Europe: Previous Winners

The title for most assists in Europe was shared by three players last season. Lionel Messi (PSG), Kevin De Bruyne (Man City) and Antoine Griezmann (Atletico) all registered 16 assists to share the crown.

MORE: Premier League top scorers 2023/24

Of the other divisions, Dortmund star Raphael Guerreiro finished on top of the Bundesliga assists charts with 12 goals created. That meant he finished in a tie with Premier League duo Mohamed Salah and Leandro Trossard for fourth place overall.

Napoli's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia had the most assists in Serie A with 10.

Thomas Müller and Kylian Mbappe shared the European Assists King award in the 2021/22 season with a sensational 18 goals created each, beating Messi (14) into third place.

Salah (13) was again in a tie for fourth position overall that year after registering the most Premier League assists, while Domenico Berardi and Ousmane Dembele (both 13) came out on top in Serie A and La Liga respectively.

Premier League table - check out the latest standings

Muller was named the European Assists King outright in each of the previous 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 in 2020/21, with 19 goals created in total.

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Iago Aspas (13) had the most assists in La Liga that 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 Messi, who had 20 in La Liga 2019/20 for Barcelona. De Bruyne was another to narrowly miss out after he also set up 20 goals and topped the Premier League charts.

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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 to claim the title. 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 being a recognised official statistic, assists are often important in fantasy football games and betting markets.