Don Alfredo
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I intended this as a reply to @harms in the Modric thread, but realized it focused too much on one aspect of Xavi and had nothing to do with Modric instead.
Xavi 08/09 - 30 assists (never reached 20 assists in other seasons)
Kevin De Bruyne 14/15 - 28 assists (hit 23 assists in 16/17 and 21 assists in 17/18)
Juan Mata 12/13 - 35 assists (20 assists in 11/12, 20 in 08/09)
Henrikh Mkhitaryan 15/16 - 32 assists
Mesut Özil 11/12- 29 assists, 10/11 - 29 assists, 09/10 - 29 assists (24 in 12/13, 20 in 15/16, 23 in 08/09)
Eden Hazard 12/13 - 24 assists (22 assists in 11/12)
Neymar 16/17 - 27 assists (25 in 15/16)
Luis Suarez 15/16 - 25 assists (23 in 14/15)
Angel Di Maria 10/11 - 26 assists (15/16 - 25 assists, 13/14 - 25 assists)
Franck Ribery 11/12 -27 assists (23 in 12/13, 22 in 10/11, 20 in 08/09, 20 in 07/08)
Lionel Messi 11/12 - 35 assists (24 in 15/16, 27 in 14/15, 28 in 10/11)
Cristiano Ronaldo 14/15 - 22 assists (20 in 06/07)
Karim Benzema 12/13 - 21 assists
Wayne Rooney 13/14 - 22 assists
Luis Nani 10/11 - 20 assists
Christian Eriksen 16/17 - 23 assists
Thomas Müller 11/12 - 20 assists
Andres Iniesta 12/13 - 23 assists
Dimitri Payet 17/18 - 24 assists (21 in 14/15, 23 in 12/13)
Luis Alberto 17/18 - 21 assists
Raheem Sterling 16/17 - 21 assists
Ousmane Dembele 16/17 - 21 assists
Emil Forsberg 16/17 - 22 assists
Cesc Fabregas 14/15 - 24 assists (22 in 13/14, 20 in 11/12, 20 in 09/10, 22 in 07/08)
Marek Hamsik 12/13 - 20 assists
I did the maths and found 3 seasons better than Xavi's 30 assists in 08/09. The takeaway is that there have been a bucket load of seasons with 20+ assists in the last few years. The assist king is Ozil, 3 seasons in a row with 29 assists each and a record 6 seasons with 20+ assists
Number of Seasons with 20+ assists
Ozil 6
Ribery 5
Fabregas 5
Messi 4
Mata 3
De Bruyne 3
Di Maria 3
Payet 3
Neymar 2
Suarez 2
Hazard 2
Ronaldo 2
Mkhitaryan 1
Xavi 1
Iniesta 1
Eriksen 1
Rooney 1
Forsberg 1
Benzema 1
Sterling 1
Dembele 1
Alberto 1
Müller 1
Nani 1
Hamsik 1
Didn't check any players older than Xavi and had to go off my head to decide who to check, so there may be some obscure player I missed. Xavi's peak numbers were great, but not unique and his general assist performance has been topped by a rather large number of players in the last few years.
I also want to talk about which team someone played in, it is much easier to rack up many assists if you have Messi or Ronaldo in front of you.
The standouts in that aspect are Ozil at Werder Bremen, De Bruyne at Wolfsburg and Payet at Marseille. Honourable mentions to Hazard at Lille, Alberto at Lazio (he had Immobile tbf, close to Ronaldo level in Italy), Forsberg at Leipzig and Mata at Valencia.
I looked for seasons with 20+ assists in all comps to compare it with Xavi's 30. Didn't find a good statistic for all comps, so looked them up individually at transfermarkt.It's close, but probably still Xavi. Depends on the rest of the team though, if you can build a team around Xavi, then him, while Modric allows a bit more variety. Although I'm not saying that Xavi can only play in a tiki-taka system like some do. His peak was absolutely ridiculous — I don't remember any other recent player making 30 assists in a season, even Messi (I could be wrong, of course, haven't checked those stats).
It's hard to say no to Scholes, who is in my top-3 favourite United players (alongside Cantona and Sir Bobby), but I think that those two surpassed him — not by much though.
Xavi 08/09 - 30 assists (never reached 20 assists in other seasons)
Kevin De Bruyne 14/15 - 28 assists (hit 23 assists in 16/17 and 21 assists in 17/18)
Juan Mata 12/13 - 35 assists (20 assists in 11/12, 20 in 08/09)
Henrikh Mkhitaryan 15/16 - 32 assists
Mesut Özil 11/12- 29 assists, 10/11 - 29 assists, 09/10 - 29 assists (24 in 12/13, 20 in 15/16, 23 in 08/09)
Eden Hazard 12/13 - 24 assists (22 assists in 11/12)
Neymar 16/17 - 27 assists (25 in 15/16)
Luis Suarez 15/16 - 25 assists (23 in 14/15)
Angel Di Maria 10/11 - 26 assists (15/16 - 25 assists, 13/14 - 25 assists)
Franck Ribery 11/12 -27 assists (23 in 12/13, 22 in 10/11, 20 in 08/09, 20 in 07/08)
Lionel Messi 11/12 - 35 assists (24 in 15/16, 27 in 14/15, 28 in 10/11)
Cristiano Ronaldo 14/15 - 22 assists (20 in 06/07)
Karim Benzema 12/13 - 21 assists
Wayne Rooney 13/14 - 22 assists
Luis Nani 10/11 - 20 assists
Christian Eriksen 16/17 - 23 assists
Thomas Müller 11/12 - 20 assists
Andres Iniesta 12/13 - 23 assists
Dimitri Payet 17/18 - 24 assists (21 in 14/15, 23 in 12/13)
Luis Alberto 17/18 - 21 assists
Raheem Sterling 16/17 - 21 assists
Ousmane Dembele 16/17 - 21 assists
Emil Forsberg 16/17 - 22 assists
Cesc Fabregas 14/15 - 24 assists (22 in 13/14, 20 in 11/12, 20 in 09/10, 22 in 07/08)
Marek Hamsik 12/13 - 20 assists
I did the maths and found 3 seasons better than Xavi's 30 assists in 08/09. The takeaway is that there have been a bucket load of seasons with 20+ assists in the last few years. The assist king is Ozil, 3 seasons in a row with 29 assists each and a record 6 seasons with 20+ assists
Number of Seasons with 20+ assists
Ozil 6
Ribery 5
Fabregas 5
Messi 4
Mata 3
De Bruyne 3
Di Maria 3
Payet 3
Neymar 2
Suarez 2
Hazard 2
Ronaldo 2
Mkhitaryan 1
Xavi 1
Iniesta 1
Eriksen 1
Rooney 1
Forsberg 1
Benzema 1
Sterling 1
Dembele 1
Alberto 1
Müller 1
Nani 1
Hamsik 1
Didn't check any players older than Xavi and had to go off my head to decide who to check, so there may be some obscure player I missed. Xavi's peak numbers were great, but not unique and his general assist performance has been topped by a rather large number of players in the last few years.
I also want to talk about which team someone played in, it is much easier to rack up many assists if you have Messi or Ronaldo in front of you.
The standouts in that aspect are Ozil at Werder Bremen, De Bruyne at Wolfsburg and Payet at Marseille. Honourable mentions to Hazard at Lille, Alberto at Lazio (he had Immobile tbf, close to Ronaldo level in Italy), Forsberg at Leipzig and Mata at Valencia.
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