Top 5 assist providers in Europe's top leagues this season
While the race for the European Golden Shoe is heating up with the likes of Lionel Messi and Mohammed Salah in contention, the top assist leaders in Europe's top-5 leagues are quietly enjoying a race of their own.
A statistic very often ignored and not given due credit for, it is around these people their teams revolve. The goal-scorer tends to steal the limelight and we frequently ignore the personnel who were involved in the build-up.
So, we look at the players leading the assist charts in Europe's top-5 leagues this season and there are some surprising names on the list:
#5 Leroy Sane (Manchester City) 11 assists in 25 games
Manchester City has been a force to be reckoned with this season and Leroy Sane has been a revelation. The German was signed by City in 2016 for a reported £37 million.
In 37 games for the club in all competitions last season, he scored 9 goals, which is a decent return.
This season he has been the first-choice right winger at the club and has formed quite a partnership with Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling as the three have started the majority of City's game up-front.
In addition to scoring 12 goals, he has also racked up 11 assists this campaign.
The German had a minor injury that kept him out for two weeks but is back in form and City will want him to be at his best as they try to go through to the latter rounds of the Champions League.
*Honourable mentions: Florian Thauvin (Marseille) and Luis Alberto (Lazio) are also tied at 11 assists but have played more games than the German.