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Playmakers are just as important as goalscorers are to a football team. There is no point in having world-class strikers in your team if you don't have the right personnel around him to provide him service.
Sometimes all a striker has to do is tap the ball into the back of the net. The bulk of the work would have been executed by the player who created the chance and played the final ball through to the finisher.
Quick thinking, fleet-footedness and the ability to pick a pass are all vital to playmakers. They are the ones who find solutions in the most difficult of circumstances. It's their technical proficiency and tactical intelligence that enables them to create chances for their teammates.
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Just as scoring goals are important to strikers, assists are a good metric to measure the effectiveness of playmakers or creators. Without further ado, let's take a look at five players with the most assists in Europe's top leagues in 2021.
#5 Moussa Diaby (Bayer Leverkusen) - 10 assists
Bayer Leverkusen winger Moussa Diaby has done some excellent work down the left wing in 2021. The 22-year-old has got off to a flying start to the 2021-22 Bundesliga season, scoring two goals and providing an assist in three appearances so far.
The left-footed winger packs electric pace and is also wonderful with the ball at his feet. He loves taking players on and beating them. Diaby has a great burst of pace and is gradually becoming a nightmare to defend against.
His movement and awareness in the final third make him a dangerous campaigner and Diaby has provided 10 assists in 22 Bundesliga appearances in 2021.
#4 Paul Pogba (Manchester United) - 10 assists
Paul Pogba has been on a different level altogether in 2021. He was a standout performer for France at Euro 2020, receiving a lot of praise for his playmaking abilities. He has also been doing great at Manchester United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The Manchester United manager has used Pogba in a more advanced role and he often starts on the left wing and is given the freedom to roam about. As a result, Pogba is making great use of his incredible control over the ball and astounding passing range.
He picked up as many as four assists in Manchester United's Premier League season opener. The Frenchman has 10 assists in 17 Premier League appearances in 2021.
#3 Borna Sosa (VfB Stuttgart) - 12 assists
Croatian left-back Borna Sosa has been brilliant for VfB Stuttgart over the last year and more. Not only is he an excellent tackler who has a great reading of the game, but he is also brilliant in possession.
Sosa can slalom past defenders thanks to his deft touches and slender frame and whip in some absolute beauties from the left wing. He has an eye for a pass and is pretty good at anticipating his forwards' runs into the area. Sosa has registered 12 assists in 19 Bundesliga appearances in 2021.
Last-ditch sliding tackles are as much a feature of his game as are his whipped crosses from the left flank. Sosa is one of the best left-backs in Europe right now and at just 23 years of age, he can go on to accomplish a lot more in the years to come.
#2 Filip Kostic (Eintracht Frankfurt) - 16 assists
It's no surprise that Eintracht Frankfurt's Serbian assist machine is so high up on this list. The left-footed winger is quite precise with his passing and does a great job at creating space for his teammates.
The 28-year-old is a reliable set-piece taker as well, and his delivery into the box is often accurate and teasing. Kostic loves bombing down the left flank and no matter how close to the touchline he might get, he'd still squeeze out a cross into the box.
Kostic possesses great technique and has registered a whopping 16 assists in just 23 Bundesliga appearances this season. In the 2020-21 season, he seemed to share a great connection with striker Andre Silva, who has now joined RB Leipzig.
Both Kostic and Silva were standout performers for Frankfurt as they finished fifth in the Bundesliga table in the 2020-21 season.
#1 Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich) - 17 assists
The self-proclaimed Raumdeuter (space interpreter), Thomas Muller, has been playing consistently at the highest levels for more than a decade now. As Robert Lewandowski goes about rewriting goalscoring records in the Bundesliga, Muller has also been clocking incredible numbers.
Muller has a whopping 17 assists to his name in just 22 Bundesliga appearances in 2021. He is a special player who knows exactly how to create chances for his teammates. The German international keeps attacking open spaces, dragging one or two defenders with him every time he does it so as to give Lewandowski more space.
He has done this effectively all his career. But Muller's game is not merely restricted to his movements. Though his style of play is not very easy on the eye, Muller is a technically adept player whose passing and vision is at par with the best in the business.
