Cole Palmer cracks list of best assist providers in 2024 to complete incredible double
There are some huge names on the periphery and Kevin de Bruyne’s lead as Europe’s premier assist provider in 2024 is starting to look a little shaky.
De Bruyne is on course to reclaim the crown he won for Manchester City in 2022, which Joey Veerman stole for PSV in 2023.
The criteria: All club assists in all competitions for teams in Europe’s top 10 leagues. The top scorers are here.
10) Dusan Tadic (Fenerbahce) – 14 assists
In his first season in Turkey, Tadic registered double figures for assists for the tenth different league campaign of his career. He is still flying at 35. No wonder Jurgen Klopp was “very angry” at not signing him all those years ago.
9) Edin Visca (Trabzonspor) – 14 assists
Even at 34 there are precious few signs of Visca slowing down in Turkey; in January he broke the all-time Super Lig assist record of 108 set by the Brazilian playmaker Alex.
8) Cole Palmer (Chelsea) – 15 assists
Only two players appear on both this and the list of the top goalscorers of 2024 and Palmer has managed that feat without any European stat-padding.
7) Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid) – 15 assists
The Ballon d’Or favourite has wisely avoided knackering his knee in quite the same way as closest rival Rodri, giving him a couple of months to establish an unassailable lead in that particular. Assists in five consecutive La Liga games should do it, as should playing with Kylian Mbappe, Endrick and Jude Bellingham.
6) Pedro Goncalves (Sporting) – 15 assists
The natural successor to Bruno Fernandes always features prominently when assessing the chief continental chance creators. He might pick his next career move a bit more wisely. In the Portuguese league alone he has registered double figures for goals and assists in the past two seasons and is on course to complete that hat-trick with four and three respectively in 2024/25.
5) Wendel (Zenit St Petersburg) – 15 assists
They’re obviously built different in Russia, with Wendel laying on a couple of goals in each of Zenit’s first three league games, as well as their Super Cup final win over Krasnodar. Barcelona were linked in the summer but they probably had no money.
4) Alex Baena (Villarreal) – 15 assists
Few players have been quite as influential in Villarreal’s recent excellent run of form; Marcelino’s side have only been beaten four times in their last 27 La Liga games and academy product Baena has been good enough to crack into Spain’s victorious Euro 2024 squad.
3) Dries Mertens (Galatasaray) – 17 assists
Having earned his Turkish Super Lig twilight years, Mertens is no doubt enjoying himself. Ten of those 17 assists were recorded across an eight-game period between early March and mid-May, helping propel Galatasaray to a remarkable title win.
2) Alejandro Grimaldo (Leverkusen) – 17 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.
1) Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City) – 18 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 and Josko Gvardiol twice in 2024, as well as Bernardo Silva, 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 perennially internationally grumpy.
