Messi, Neymar, De Bruyne, Ozil: Who's played the most key passes in a season?

Kevin De Bruyne is widely regarded as the world’s best playmaker.

Over the past seven to eight years, the Manchester City superstar has racked up assists for fun.

In the 2019/20 campaign, De Bruyne equalled Thierry Henry’s record for most assists in a single Premier League season with 20, while he actually notched 21 for Wolfsburg in the 2014/15 Bundesliga campaign.

Overall in City colours, the former Chelsea midfielder has set up his teammates 121 times in 307 appearances, a phenomenal record.

De Bruyne will go down as one of the greatest to have played the game and another stat which supports that argument is ‘key passes’.

The folks over at PopFoot have provided the 20 players with the most key passses over the course of a whole season since 2009, with De Bruyne occupying the top two spots.

Let’s take a look at the numbers in full…

20. Andrea Pirlo (Juventus, 2011/12) – 124 key passes

19. Andrea Pirlo (Juventus, 2012/13) – 125 key passes

18. Frank Lampard (Chelsea, 2009/10) – 126 key passes

17. Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur, 2015/16) – 126 key passes

16. Nene (Paris Saint-Germain, 2011/12) – 128 key passes

15. Lionel Messi (Barcelona, 2014/15) – 131 key passes

14. Dimitri Payet (Marseille, 2014/15) – 131 key passes

13. Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur, 2016/17) – 132 key passes

12. Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United, 2020/21) – 133 key passes

11. Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille, 2012/13) – 134 key passes

10. Neymar (Barcelona, 2015/16) – 136 key passes

9. Memphis Depay (Lyon, 2018/19) – 138 key passes

8. Florent Malouda (Chelsea, 2010/11) – 142 key passes

7. Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid, 2011/12) – 144 key passes

6. Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona, 2009/10) – 146 key passes

5. Dimitri Payet (Marseille, 2017/18) – 156 key