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Only one footballer has more assists than Kevin De Bruyne over the last decade in Europe’s top five leagues – but it may not be for long
The Manchester City playmaker provided four assists during their recent 6-2 victory over Luton in the FA Cup fifth round – with Erling Haaland scoring five on the night.
In doing so, the Belgian took his assist tally for the last 10 years up to 202 – from 441 matches – and solidified himself in second place on the list for the last decade.
In fact, only Inter Miami star Lionel Messi has more than De Bruyne – with the Argentine’s tally standing at 203 assists, from 458 matches.
Of course, since leaving French giants PSG in June 2023, Messi’s tally has come to an under, given the statistics only cover assists in Europe’s top five leauges.
Following after the Belgian and Argentine is Bayern Munich star Thomas Muller – who has 183 assists from 461 matches.
The likes of Angel Di Maria, Neymar and Luis Suarez all follow on from the German forward – with a surprise Premier League player featuring in seventh on the list.
Chelsea winger Raheem Sterling – who has also played for Liverpool and Man City – joins the list after Suarez, with an impressive assists tally of 123.
After the England international is PSG forward Kylian Mbappe who has 121 assists to his name, despite only making his first-team debut in 2015.
Finishing off the list are Liverpool star Mohamed Salah and former West Ham playmaker Dimitri Payet – who have 119 and 115, respectively.
Man City star De Bruyne has already picked up 12 assists in the 2023-24 campaign – despite missing the first six months of the season with injury.
After their win against Luton, the Belgian said even he has surprised himself in returning from his hamstring surgery so seamlessly.
De Bruyne told the media afterwards: ‘I did not worry (about his hamstring injury) but I did not expect to come back in this way, if I am being honest.
‘It was one of those games where you get a lot of one-v-ones and there’s a lot of space. If you can find the right angles, you get a lot of opportunities. We figured out a way to hurt them and Erling scored the goals so it was good.
‘If you play quickly, it’s very hard because they control it more but once you get the understanding of keeping the ball for a little bit more it’s hard for them and there’s a lot of space. That’s the way they play. It’s hard but we figured out a way.’
