Messi, Neymar, De Bruyne, Mount: Who has the most assists in 2022? | OneFootball

Lionel Messi has been back to his old self for much of 2022.

The year of 2021 was tough for the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner. He had to leave boyhood club Barcelona due to their woeful financial situation and sign for Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer.

Messi initially struggled to adapt to his new surroundings in France, but we can say for certain that he’s found his feet now.

In 2022/23, the diminutive maestro has been in sparkling form. He’s already matched his tally of 11 goals from last season and is currently Europe’s highest-rated player over on WhoScored.

Messi has also been assisting goals aplenty for both PSG and Argentina over the course of 2022 thus far.

In fact, no player in Europe has more assists for club and country combined since the start of the year.

PopFoot…

The 10 players with the most assists for club and country in 2022

10. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid and Brazil)

Games: 51 | Assists: 14 | Assists-per-game: 0.27

9. Mason Mount (Chelsea and England)

Games: 50 | Assists: 14 | Assists-per-game: 0.28

8. Dominik Szoboszlai (RB Leipzig and Hungary)

Games: 48 | Assists: 14 | Assists-per-game: 0.29

7. Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain and France)

Games: 44 | Assists: 14 | Assists-per-game: 0.32

6. Alassane Plea (Borussia Monchengladbach and France)

Games: 28 | Assists: 15 | Assists-per-game: 0.54

5. Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil)

Games: 36 | Assists: 16 | Assists-per-game: 0.44

4. Rafael Leao (AC Milan and Portugal)

Games: 46 | Assists: 17 | Assists-per-game: 0.37

3. Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona and France)

Games: 41 | Assists: 18 | Assists-per-game: 0.44

2. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City and Belgium)

Games: 44 | Assists: 24 | Assists-per-game: 0.55

Games: 40 | Assists: 24 | Assists-per-game: 0.60

So, not only does Messi have the joint-most assists in 2022, he has the best assists-per-game ratio among those in the top 10.

The man is averaging an 0.60 assists per match, while he also has the second-most goal contributions of any player in Europe this year, behind only Mbappe.

Who has the most goal contributions for club and country in 2022?

Yeah, that’s just not normal for a 35-year-old.

But as we all know, this is no ordinary footballer we are talking about and the way Messi has played in 2022, an eighth Ballon d’Or triumph simply cannot be ruled out.

Especially if Argentina win the World Cup in Qatar later this year…