Salah runs out of time after remarkable late surge for Europe’s assist crown in 2024
Mo Salah embarked on a run of stupid form which dragged him into the top assisters conversation for 2024. But there was a runaway leader in Europe.
Kevin De Bruyne was on course to reclaim the crown he won for Manchester City in 2022, which Joey Veerman stole for PSV in 2023, but he dropped well off the pace after his return from injury.
The criteria: All club assists in all competitions for teams in Europe’s top 10 leagues.
10) Lamine Yamal (Barcelona) – 18 assists
The La Liga assists leader, albeit for a team whose form has collapsed with his injury struggles and under the weight of Diego Simeone’s massive cojones.
9) Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid) – 18 assists
It will be interesting to see how long this Ballon d’Or boycott lasts, and indeed if Vinicius remains one of the favourites for the 2025 award.
8) Omar Marmoush (Frankfurt) – 18 assists
Nottingham Forest made a bid for the 25-year-old this summer but instead of warming the bench as back-up to Chris Wood, Marmoush stayed to add Arsenal and Liverpool to his potential suitors by continuing his fine form.
7) Viktor Gyokeres (Sporting) – 19 assists
It has been a mightily special year and surely his last served in full at Sporting. In terms of combined goals and assists, Gyokeres ends with a lead of 17 over closest rival Harry Kane.
6) Trincao (Sporting) – 19 assists
One assist is all Trincao managed in 30 appearances for Wolves – setting up Jonny Otto in an eventual defeat to Leeds – but he is on fire for one of Europe’s form teams.
5) Dusan Tadic (Fenerbahce) – 19 assists
Among that number are assists for Fred and Allan Saint-Maximin as the 36-year-old thrives under the tactical freedom of Jose Mourinho.
4) Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City) – 19 assists
There is the slight added benefit of playing behind a robot who has converted half of those assists – De Bruyne laid Haaland on four times in one FA Cup rout of Luton in February – but the Belgian has also set up Phil Foden, Josko Gvardiol and Bernardo Silva twice in 2024, as well as John Stones, Oscar Bobb, Julian Alvarez and Jeremy Doku just the once.
And this is De Bruyne pretty much slowing down due to age, injury and being part of one of Europe’s worst teams.
3) Alejandro Grimaldo (Leverkusen) – 21 assists
One of the most important cogs in the Xabi Alonso machine, Grimaldo cost nothing in the summer of 2023 after his Benfica contract expired but he is worth an awful lot to the Bundesliga champions now. The left-back has embraced the Leverkusen heritage admirably, assisting stoppage-time goals against Augsburg, Leipzig, Qarabag and Patrik Schick’s late equaliser in the DFB-Pokal final against Stuttgart.
2) Mo Salah (Liverpool) – 23 assists
The analytics bods might be more wary of his age when entertaining contract talks but Salah is hardly slowing down at 32. This season alone he has 20 goals and 17 assists in 26 games for double league leaders Liverpool, who would be absolutely mad to let him go for nothing.
He has sneaked onto the top scorers of 2024 list just before the year is out, too. A truly phenomenal footballer.
1) Dries Mertens (Galatasaray) – 27 assists
Having earned his Turkish Super Lig twilight years, Mertens is no doubt enjoying himself. Ten of those assists were recorded across an eight-game period between early March and mid-May, helping propel Galatasaray to a remarkable title win. Many more have inspired a phenomenal unbeaten start to their defence. Two came against Spurs in the Europa.
