ASSISTKINGS QUARTERLY RETURNS: 2019/2020 EDITION: VOLUME I

           ASSISTKINGS QUARTERLY

2019/2020 VOL. 1

       We return just when most leagues begin their first match days (Italian Serie A ehh? Hurry up!) and right before the math gets a little heavy, although none of these players have failed to hit the ground running. 
      In fact there were many we had to leave out due to a simple numbers game, guys like Eric Pieters, Paul Pogba or David Silva. This was a tough picking...as many players displayed some incredible quality to begin the 19/20 campaign 
       According to Squawka, we've already seen six different players providing 2 assists in a single match across the Premier League's first two match-days, with all six players hailing from six different nations. Across Europe, there's actually been 11 total including Thiago Mendes and Houssem Aouar's braces of assists for Lyon, Axel Witsel with 2 vs Augsburg, Erik Thommy with a brace against Bremen while Marcel Sabitzer and Diego Jota snatched hat tricks of assists.
       There's also been a high flying start to proceedings in the Bundesliga where Dortmund already gained ground on Bayern when the champions were held to a 2-2 draw vs Hertha Berlin. 
       Somehow we start in the Premier League, where just like last year, Riyad Mahrez goes from starting and performing brilliantly to failing to appear the next match, an occurrence that had him hanging on to our list by a thread.

10.
RIYAD MAHREZ (Man City)

- 2 assists
- CHANCES CREATED
 -TOTAL: 4
 -AVG: 2.0
- Key Passes Off Post: 0
-UDGC: 2

                Mahrez started 19/20 after leading Algeria to a historic African Nations Cup, scoring 3 goals and playing with tireless energy (and suffering through a couple extra time matches) deep into the ides of July. 
              So you'd expect to see him in late August, rather than in the first match of the season.
              But no, Pep Guardiola started Riyad Mahrez vs West Ham due to Pep believing Riyad had played considerably less last season and was more fresh than Bernardo Silva.
          With his gritty schedule, you'd think Mahrez may need a bit of time away from the pitch to recover, but Pep Guardiola disagreed and the Algerian African Cup hero made his manager look wise. 
          He terrorized West Ham: cutting inside with feverish pace, dictatorial urgency and set up play in the final third with cold and calculated precision. The Algerian lashed shot after shot at the under siege West Ham keeper, though it was once his final ball came to life around the penalty area that City began to stamp West Ham out.
          Mahrez created the first goal with a deft little through ball down the line for a sprinting Kyle Walker to cutback into the box, the Englishman guessing that Gabriel Jesus would arrive at the near post to poke home...and he was right. This finally ended the weird, little resistance from West Ham, the rampant attack of City breaking down the wall thanks to the Algerian's perfectly executed weight of pass down the line for the Englishman, such influence gaining him his first uncredited direct goal contribution of 19/20.
             Both players desperately needed to help Man City win a match immediately upon the season starting, with Mahrez needing to prove to Guardiola that he can consistently step in for Leroy Sane and Kyle Walker definitely needed that assist to stave off any challenges from new City arrival, the former Juventus starting right back Joao Cancelo.
           In his pursuit of first team football, Mahrez took the match over in the 2nd half, breaking West Ham down. 
           His first assist came when he received the ball (from a centrally placed Raheem Sterling), then the Algerian cut in on his left from the right wing again, though he'd been tracking the Englishman's run and pulled back from the shooting opportunity, casually / accurately flipping the ball over the top of the defense to the wide open Sterling run into the box. The world class forward collected the ball from an superb first touch and fantastically clapped it over the top of the keeper and into the net.
            Mahrez continued this rampage when he juked and jived a West Ham defender into fouling him in the penalty area, an incisive bit of play from the former EPL Player of The Year, cutting in on his left foot into the box yet again (first you see the ball, then you don't), setting up the penalty for substitute Sergio Aguero, another CIty player who had a point to prove as well. He buried the resulting penalty with aplomb, giving Mahrez his second uncredited direct goal contribution of the season.
            Later in the match, Mahrez collected the ball after Rodri was clearly fouled and whipped an easy-does-it left footed through ball diagonally through the lost West Ham defense, Raheem Sterling of course was there to collect and profit, picking his head up and looking to his left to cause the keeper to move ever so slightly to block Raheem's pass across the face of goal, though the second the keeper moved he knew it was too late: Sterling had looked to his left at a player who wasn't even arriving at the back post to deceive the keeper and then passed the ball into the net under his left arm when the keeper moved.
             Raheem Sterling's finishing is on another planet right now and we've never seen anything like him: a player roaming at his own will and his team always benefiting from this magnificent movement and intelligent, selfless exertion for the City collective. 
            He's the #9, then at another moment becomes the winger, another time he's deep in midfield orchestrating. 
           Raheem Sterling defies his critics and his critics have disappeared.
            As for his teammate, Riyad Mahrez has to continue to notch assists and find the Englishman at all costs or feed Aguero or Jesus if he wants to keep playing, with clear evidence being his absence until the final minutes of the Spurs match the next week after his Man of the Match, 4 goal-creating display vs West Ham. 
           It is this type of positive competition within a squad that attains the best out of a team, something some managers and clubs are desperately failing to understand at the moment (Ernesto Valverde's Barcelona to name one) and money has nothing to do with insuring a competitive squad...well, maybe money has a little bit to do with it. 
          And this demand to always improve is why Manchester City under Pep Guardiola can do it all, 
that is as long as he can rotate more this season.  
          If Pep finally stops running his players into the ground: De Bruyne, Laporte and Fernandinho were injured last season due to starting matches across 4 different competitions.
          Riyad Mahrez will surely benefit from these necessary rotations and just like last season (13 goals and 13 assists), he has proven to be a reliable and steadily consistent player at City who has only failed to gain his greatest form due to being played so irregularly.
    

9.
DANI CEBALLOS (Arsenal)

- 2 assists
- CHANCES CREATED
 -TOTAL: 4 (all vs Burnley)
 -AVG: 2.0
-Key Passes Off Post: 0
-UDGC: 0


             Many Arsenal fans still felt Dani Ceballos wasn't going to be sticking around London after the season's curtain call anyway, so they had (and maybe still have) a hesitancy to  fully accept Real Madrid's loaned out midfielder who's been starring and playing wonderfully for the Spanish U-21 teams as of late. 
           But now he's going up an extra gear: on his first full Arsenal debut, on his first full Arsenal start, on his home debut at the Emirates in front of all of these skeptical Gooners, Ceballos made them thirst for more of this Second Coming of Cesc Fabregas.
          The Spaniard twisted and turned Burnley into the abyss, touching the ball heavily and achieving 70 passes, the most of any player on the pitch from either side, 4 key passes (also first) and proved efficient and physically capable in the Premier League with his aggressive tackling play against the rough and tumble Burnley, a side who's physicality and intensity would intimidate most cultured, agile Spanish massagers of the ball (Mata, Denis Suarez, Deulofeu, perhaps Mikel Merino)...not Ceballos.
            He sent in
a wonderful 
corner at the
near post that Monreal narrowly missed, though 
the ball was so accurate it hit Lacazette in the chest and fell 
to the Frenchman's feet. The Frenchman tap-danced on the ball until he began losing his balance and started to fall, though clearly still saving time to swing a brilliant right footed twisting finish as his feet gave way, the ball squirting through the keeper at his near post with the shot's sheer velocity, giving Ceballos his first assist. 
            And though he may have
been lucky, he earned his luck when he 
continued to 
pour on the chances, taking 
off on a beastly
run where he patiently paused and then slid out a beautiful through ball to Matteo Guendouzi, the Frenchman smacking the ball for the bottom corner and forcing the Burnley keeper to repel the shot with a last gasp left foot save.
           And it wasn't too long before he would grab his 2nd assist with a fantastic piece of play, defying any expectations of Ceballos' lack of physicality.
          The Madrid loanee lost the ball in an attack with a poor pass, only for him to go racing after the Burnley midfielder on the ball and stepping through him from behind (showing the aggression Arsenal have lost in the midfield since the days of Patrick Viera). Ceballos completed the tackle-pass and poked the ball through to Aubameyang, the striker duly firing into the corner, giving Arsenal the rightful 2-1 victory, with Ceballos front and center in the influence department.  
          However, it's only early days at the Emirates for the Spanish transplant, though we can and should get carried away with our excitement when Ceballos didn't just grab 2 lucky assists: he drilled Burnley at times, he robbed them of possession, he passed them into submission and he was deadly accurate. 
         But more than that, Arsenal fans have to love how he celebrated the Aubameyang goal: it was as if he had scored the goal himself, showing passion, ferocity and fun as he swung his arm in festive bliss at the crowd, winning them over in an instant no doubt. His teammates loved to see this, especially the goalscorer Aubameyang who spied him freaking out on the other side of the goal and began laughing his ass off.
         If he can
continue to offer
this type of energy, 
swagger 
& verve that Arsenal have been sorely missing, it'll be hard for the London club to let him go. 
         Although with Real Madrid looking on as 33 year-old Luka Modric (pushing 34) gets himself sent off this weekend and continues to play listlessly ever since the 2018 World Cup, will Zidane demand the high-octane, apex performing assist-machine back in June 2020?
            

8.
HOUSSEM AOUAR (Lyon)

- 2 assists 
- CHANCES CREATED
 -TOTAL: 3 (all vs Angers)
 -AVG: 1.5
-Key Passes Off Post: 0
-UDGC: 0

           Houssem Aouar continued where he left off in the last stages of Ligue 1 in May: dropping ridiculous assists and at a nasty pace, now having grabbed 7 assists in his last 8 Ligue 1 appearances (including 3 multi-assist matches).
            But also among the 8 match cluster of data? 4 matches where Aouar is posting 0 assists and 0 goals, too. 
            Yes, he has been known to go dry in his final third execution at times, posting 0 chances created on occasion. Though he is young, this is something a player with such a phenomenally devastating final ball has to work on.
             Aouar has definitely helped Lyon get off to a great start in their first season without captain and talisman Nabil Fekir, and this squad led by Depay, Traore, Moussa Dembele and goalkeeper Lopes (who made some sick saves vs Angers and Monaco) has scored 9 goals in 2 matches and allowed nothing. 

             The midfield axis has become the component of 
which Lyon's
attack rests, balancing Aouar alongside a defensive minded, highly athletic and high-tackling / passing mechanic (real Box to box mids such as Ndombele). They now have former Lille midfielder Thiago Mendes alongside Aouar in that role and he's filled in beautifully. 
             Aouar supplied new midfield partner Thiago Mendes to do the damage against Monaco, however in the first 15 minutes vs Angers, the Algerian-Frenchy received a fantasy gift from his Brazilian teammate. Mendes stripped Angers of possession three times in a single sequence and ushered Aouar in on goal.
            The Lyon midfielder had nobody in his way except some retreating, stunned defenders and Aouar wanted to bury his frustration from the Monaco match, stepping through the ball with tremendous venom and driving it into the corner 
             Now that he had massaged his own ego a bit, the uncapped Frenchman  (who should play for Algeria) began laying on the chances, shuttling 3 in total and grabbing 2 assists in a 6 minute window, both to Memphis Depay. These pair of passes demonstrate the world class technique and lost astrology of Aouar's play: intangibles that were noticed by Pep Guardiola. 
             He raced down the left from his center midfield area and hesitated slightly for Memphis Depay's run. When Depay arrived, Aouar laid on a smooth criminal pass (only slightly ahead of the in-coming defender) for the Dutchman to latch on to and pile-drive through the Angers keeper's legs.
             The next assist was another opportunity profited from Thiago Mendes' bruising play, the Brazilian bustling through midfield before running directly into an Angers midfielder, though still retaining possession and filtering it out of his feet and into Aouar. 
          As the ball arrived, Aouar already knew what to do and flung a chipped ball over the top of the defense on his first touch, a near carbon copy to Riyad Mahrez's chip to Sterling, though this time Depay smashed it home on the volley .
            With this exquisite play, we expect Aouar to get dramatically better this season and deliver on his ultimate potential, one which will no doubt become coveted by many a top shelf club.

7.
SERGE GNABRY (Bayern Munich)

- 2 assists
- CHANCES CREATED
 -TOTAL: 8
 -AVG: 4.0
- Key Passes Off Post: 0
-UDGC: 0 
      
             Gnabry started his 19/20 campaign coming from the bench against Cottbus in the DFB Pokal and within seconds his presence was felt. 
             The former Arsenal youth product had already set up a few chances within 2 minutes of coming on and followed it up by laying on a scorched earth assist.
            He lost the ball 
near the edge of the penalty area on the left wing and tracked back, stuck a foot in to win back possession, robbing the ball and letting Leon Goretza take charge, only for his German teammate to feed him up the left and what Gnabry did next was unmistakably world class. 
            The German international smashed a hard, accurate ball into the box for Goretzka as he spun, rifling just behind the defender's legs as he was pressed and the ball laid right at Leon's feet, the Bond-villain looking Goretzka sexually shooting home into the far corner.
            It is undeniable how influential Serge Gnabry is for Bayern Munich at this current juncture, as he created yet another goal for Robert Lewandowski (the pair combined for 9 goals last campaign) in the 2-2 draw vs Hertha Berlin, laying on a rather outrageous cross along the face of goal for his Polish striker to stomp home.
             Dortmund already enjoy a 2 point lead over Bayern to start the 19/20 campaign and so to keep pace, the squad at the Allianz Arena has to be at their best level every week to bring home the Bundesliga this season. 
            They will be given their toughest domestic test since Jurgen Klopp's Dortmund won the Bundesliga back to back from 2010/11 to 2011/2012, and if Bayern are to usurp Lucien Favre's men in the table and retain their necrophilic hold on the German league title, Serge Gnabry will have a lot to do with it.

6.
THIAGO MENDES (Lyon)

- 3 assists 
- CHANCES CREATED
 -TOTAL: 5
 -AVG: 2.8
-Key Passes Off Post: 0
-UDGC: 1

              His appearance on the list was unexpected to say the least, especially with Mendes being a defensive midfielder at a new club.
             But Thiago Mendes' place is thoroughly justified: his hard-nose and gutty midfield play has already helped his more attack-minded midfield associate Houssem Aouar score goals and set them up in equal measure.
             He began the campaign on a tear, charging through midfield and dictating terms to a haggard Monaco, laying off a pass for Memphis Depay who casually shot at Monaco's goal, watching on as the ball went through the hapless and nameless Monaco goalkeeper's legs and into the back of the net. A rather lucky way to grab your 1st assist in Ligue 1, though in football you'll take it...nothing is guaranteed.
             In the same match, Mendes received the ball at the tip of the box and lifted an exacting ball for Lucas Tousart to hit on the bounce. Tousart stepped through the ball perfectly and sent it home with a filthy strike thanks to Mendes' vision. 

            Against Angers, his brutal disturbance of the opposition's possession game created the 6-0 rout.                 Mendes flew into a challenge and won the ball, sending a tackle-pass through. His pass was intercepted by Angers only for Mendes to fly back into another challenge, ripping the ball away from them again and leading a charge towards goal with Aouar to his left, feeding the Frenchman to thrash home, grabbing his 3rd assist in 2 matches.
           Later on he engineered the 5th goal when he went barreling down the pitch and split the ball over to Aouar, the Lyon man chipping over the defense to Depay to blaze home on the first touch. 
            Who knows how long a bruising, tackle-hearty defensive midfielder can keep leading Europe in assists, but we suspect not as long as Messi and De Bruyne have something to say about it. 
            But here he is, joint top assister in all of Europe next to Kevin De Bruyne and Marcel Sabitzer and he's done it while completing his team. Mendes has  stepped into the gaping hole Tanguay Ndombele left in the Lyon midfield with finesse, strength, agility and power.
           The former Lille man has been vital, valuable and impressive for Lyon and whether or not he's a part of the action in the final third, he's proving to be a necessity in the Lyon midfield.


5.
HAKIM ZIYECH (Ajax) 

- 2 assists
- CHANCES CREATED
 -TOTAL: 22
 -AVG: 3.666
-Key Passes Off Post: 1
-UDGC: 3

                Last year's leader in overall chances created and uncredited direct goal contributions (tied in 2nd with Lionel Messi for overall assists) Ajax star Hakim Ziyech has already achieved a massive head start over his rivals with 22 key passes in 6 matches.
                 While Ajax have played a few more matches than most clubs (due to their Champions League qualifying status) that is beyond their control and those matches are competitive fixtures we will be counting here (hell, PAOK took the lead on Ajax at one point and had Ajax lost over two legs they would be out of the UCL, a competition they went to the semi-finals in last year..that qualifies as a competitive match to me).
              Starting the party off right, Ziyech was frenetic throughout over two legs vs Panathanaikos, continuing his addiction to creating chances. He generated 10 key passes over the two legs, grabbed an assist and was unlucky not to have scored, though he did set up a phenomenal goal with an uncredited direct goal contribution (UDGC).
             In Eredevisie play, much was the same as Ziyech grabbed an assist over the first three matches, set up a chance where new kid on the block Quincy Promes hit the post, though Dusan Tadic was there at the back post to laugh the rebound into the net from a yard away, handing Ziyech another UDGC.
            While his mates Tadic, Van De Beek, Promes and Neres are all unreal talents (Tadic was #2 in our best of 18/19 piece, none of them will perform at the high octane pace Ziyech will and already has in 19/20. 
           Tadic may lay on as many chances as the Moroccan or as many assists and he may score more goals, though Ziyech tackles more, wins possession in the final third frequently and hit the post 11x last season, proving he was unlucky in the goalscoring department.                                              Think Van De Beek runs more? Heat-maps consistently prove Ziyech runs more distances and tracks back to help his team as much, if not more than the Dutch midfielder. 
          The Moroccan does it all and it's stunning he hasn't been purchased by a bigger club, especially at his meager 25 million release clause. Though any frustration will only make Ziyech more hungry, building on his form from last year. 
           Barring injury, Ziyech will take it to the limit (don't sue me Don Henley).


4.
JADON SANCHO (Dortmund)

- 2 assists
- CHANCES CREATED
 -TOTAL: 7
 -AVG: 2.3
-Key Passes Off Post:
-UDGC: 1

         Lucien Favre's Dortmund made a splash to start the season after a fantastic 5-1 come from behind victory in which the rapidly maturing Jadon Sancho is developing at a shocking pace.                     
           Dortmund surrendered a goal to Augsburg in the first 37 seconds of the match, then demonstrated a rabid nature in possession: Lucien Favre's men equalised after 2 and a half minutes and completed 888 passes, 94 of which came from the feet of the teenager. 
        Sancho issued a stunning number of passes for a winger, though upon viewing the entire match from FS1, these passes weren't a Jorginho special of side to side cynicism, these 94 passes depicted the England international star as the player who may finally be the one who helps England reclaim the World Cup. 
        This is because Sancho isn't your typical "Showtime" English winger with oodles of potential like Theo Walcott or David Beckham or John Barnes. 


       All three of those players accomplished breathtaking feats both individually and at a club and international level, though compared to their initial hype and self-proclaimed promise, they failed at the final hurdle.     
      Jadon Sancho is living in a 24/7, social media-driven age where he's had an ever-increasing hype and expectation heaped around his slim shoulders, perhaps more so than any of the players above had to deal with in their respective eras.
          The professional demands at club and international level in 2019 are a stunning amount of hard work, dedication and time, isolated on training pitches and football fields seemingly a world away. And the marketing, promotional and branding expectations are insane, as any suave financial heathen recognizes just how much money can be made per second...per click, nowadays with social media pages becoming awash with their new Adidas, Puma or Nike boots, their new 19/20 kits etc.
           While all of this merciless insanity swirls around him, Sancho has been able to grind at his craft and become a solid England starter and contributor along with his continued rise as the spark that bled the Bundesliga (had to get a Flaming Lips reference in there).
           On Saturday, Sancho resumed his partnership with Marco Reus when he initiated the equalizer: rolling a delectable through ball in for Reus to cut back for Alcacer, the keeper failing to clear and the Spaniard stamping the ball home.
         Then to begin the 2nd half, with the score still tied, Axel Witsel sent a beautiful low cross through the entire Augsburg defense. ending up at Sancho's feet. The Englishman slashed a riotous shot into the corner and scored his first Bundesliga goal of the campaign.

           Later it was Sancho using a Reus run as a decoy before laying on a brilliant ball for Alcacer to rocket into the top corner, a fantastic move coming from Sancho's left instead of his usual right wing station. 
            The sky is the limit for Jadon Sancho and we are only wondering what he'll do next. After a match where he dropped nearly 100 passes while transitioning all over the pitch, grabbing an assist and a goal, it's no wonder why Sancho is going nowhere in the transfer market just yet.

3.
MARCEL SABITZER (Leipzig)

- 3 assists 
(all vs Union Berlin in a man of the match performance)
-scored 2 goals vs Osnabruck in the DFB Pokal 
- CHANCES CREATED
 -TOTAL: 9
 -AVG: 4.5 (all comps)
-Key Passes Off Post: 0

          Marcel Sabitzer, one of the most underrated footballers in the world, took newly promoted Union Berlin to task this Sunday to open Leipzig's Bundesliga account with a 4-0 win, all four goals coming from the Austrian jack-of-all-trades. 
          Sabitzer scored a blistering goal either side of two venomous assists that opened proceedings: the first being a ridiculous slide-rule pass that sloped through the Berlin midfield, met by wing-back Halstenberg who cut inside on to his weaker right foot and blasted a curler into the upper 90 of Union Berlin's goal.
           He wasn't finished.
           Only minutes after scoring his 3rd goal of the 19/20 campaign, Sabitzer sent Timo Werner clean through on goal after a brilliant chest-down to his feet, flicking a neat little curler into the path of the German international who made no mistake throttling it home for his 1st Bundesliga goal of the season.
            Sabitzer was getting hugs and astonished looks from his teammates after each goal, wondering if it could possibly get any better.
         And it definitely did: not only did Emil Forsberg come from the bench to set up former Tottenham and PSG winger Christopher Nkunku, only for the Frenchman to smack the shot off of the post, Nkunku was set up once again by Sabitzer, this time with a headed pass back across goal to complete his hat trick of assists.
             Today is absolute evidence and bona fide proof of the vast talents of Marcel Sabitzer, one of the most well-rounded midfielders and attackers we've seen in the Bundesliga, or in all of Europe. How he has been overlooked for so long, even by ourselves, is an outrage. 
             We feel Sabitzer will only get better and will feature on this list for the foreseeable future as he relishes playing for his brutally good manager, the young Julian Nagelsmann at the helm.      
                Nagelsmann has ushered in a style of play that favors Sabitzer as the "#10" and coupled with the precise finishing of Poulsen, Werner, Jean-Kevin Augustin, former Everton forward / winger Ademola Lookman, Emil Forsberg as well as the wing-backs Halstenberg and Klostermann's propensity to score goals together with the midfield's obsession with forward passing: Kevin Kampl, Diego Demme, Haidara (who I'm told will surpass Naby Keita by a reliable source) and Chelsea's Ethan Apamadu, we think we'll be seeing a lot of Marcel Sabitzer this season.

2.
DONNY VAN DE BEEK (Ajax)

- 4 assists
- CHANCES CREATED
 -TOTAL: 16
 -AVG: 2.5 (all comps)
-Key Passes Off Post: 0
-UDGC: 0

              Donny has started the season with a bristling intelligence and improvement that pushes his market value and potential ever higher. 
             When you witness this player dribbling into the box, waiting patiently, going on a little run and then halting just as he suddenly flips a backheel assist to David Neres, bamboozling the entire back line and midfield of an entire team (VVV Venlo, sorry guys!) in the process, you then realize what a special talent Donny Van De Beek is.
               We've seen him laying on assist after assist as the season begins, currently at #1 in all of Europe (when counting all comps.) with 4 assists: grabbing 1 each in all 3 Eredivisie matches thus far and another in the Dutch Super Cup victory over PSV Eindhoeven to start 19/20.
                I've personally witnessed him pull off 5 back-heels on opponents this season, always for a purpose, not merely for flash and Donny often nutmegs the opposition defenders while doing this . 
               DVB also finished off a scorching move at the end of the Emmen match: Tagliafico races down the pitch after stealing possession, waits for the overlapping run from David Neres and sets the Brazilian up on the left angle of the box; Neres doesn't hesitate and thrashes in a perfect on the ground ball headed straight for Tadic. However, the brilliant Dusan Tadic lets the ball go through his legs (fucking with defenders' minds) and the ball lays right at DVB's feet. Just as defenders come flying at him, he flips a perfect ball to Ziyech who's shot was deflected but goes in anyway: the perfect goal from the perfect team.
                Why can't Barcelona play like this? 
                As always, Van De Beek has been amongst the goals too, scoring 2 goals to go along with his 4 assists, setting up a litany of chances (15 already on the season). And though these Ajax stars have featured in more matches than players from the main European leagues (and their Champions League run has already started), their continuously shocking output is only getting better by the match.
               The way in which VDB, Ziyech, Dusan Tadic and David Neres operate around the opposition box is something else to behold, and I seriously wonder if any of these players will want to leave Ajax for bigger clubs.
                Will they ever find such scintillating chemistry in the final third, again? You'd definitely say "well of course, if DVB goes to Madrid he's instantly combining with Hazard, Jovic, Benzema, Kroos etc" or if Ziyech goes to Bayern or Liverpool he's instantaneously going balls deep with Thomas Muller, Serge Gnabry, Lewandowski, Kimmich and Coman.
               But if it ain't broke, why fix it? 
               With Tadic, Ziyech, Neres and Van De Beek playing like this (and they're not even at their peak right now), Ajax could legitimately get to another Champions League quarterfinal this season as they play with such unbridled fury in the final third and somehow, with Frenkie De Jong at Barcelona, have maintained their vicious pressing game.  
               And with Donny laying on back-heel assists, winning possession in the final third, doggedly pressing opponents into rampant mistakes, utilizing his precise first touch and ebullient turns on the ball in midfield and capitalizing on his transcendental chemistry in and around the box with Hakim Ziyech, Dusan Tadic and David Neres, Ajax could even go further than last year.
            There's just simply no stopping this guy.

1.
KEVIN DE BRUYNE (Man City)

- 3 assists
- CHANCES CREATED
 -TOTAL: 12
 -AVG:  4.0
-Key Passes Off Post: 0
-UDGC: 0

               Sqwauka calling De Bruyne "Beckham-esque", after his performance against Tottenham, is an insult.
               The red-haired Belgian has already eclipsed the quality and will pass the numbers of that aforementioned walking advertisement. 
               Unlike the celebrity zombie-god of David Beckham, Kevin De Bruyne is a living, breathing badass. He's a real human being who has his heart on his sleeve, he shares his opinions freely and openly instead of being a faceless, sound bite delivering robot. 
               Instead of most top footballers cheating on girlfriends, De Bruyne has actually been cheated on by one (his girlfriend cheated on him with Belgium teammate Thibaut Courtois of all people). He's a good guy and one worth rooting for on and off the pitch, which makes viewing his tremendous all-around performances on the pitch that much better.
             Guardiola hasn't put too much of a burden on KDB coming into 2019/2020, knowing full well that without De Bruyne, Tottenham may have well and truly beaten City in last year's Champions League without needing VAR to do it (KDB had 3 assists in the match); without KDB, City don't win the Premier League either.  
           He appeared only 19 times in the Premier League last year, though he still provided 4 goals and 11 assists in 32 appearances in all competitions over the course of that injury blighted marathon (in comparison, De Bruyne appeared 37 times in the EPL alone in 17/18).

              And due to this stop-start 18/19, Kevin De Bruyne only featured on two of our AssistKings Quarterly lists: something that made me feel sick to my stomach.
              Well, now as we head into 19/20, KDB is back where he belongs and it feels good.
                To begin the campaign, Man City eviscerated West Ham, even while the Hammers played at their optimum level, pushing and pressing Guardiola's men into uncomfortable positions and denying them bits and pieces of possession. 
                Then, their resistance was destroyed after Mahrez and Walker combined down the right wing for Gabriel Jesus to tap home. But it was still 1-0 into the 55th minute and City were probing carefully, not wanting to be caught out on the break by West Ham's Sebastian Haller, Felipe Anderson and Michail Antonio. 
              And to further damn West Ham's efforts, Kevin De Bruyne received the ball deep in his own half and proceeded to race through the gut of the West Ham midfield and defense, absolutely flying at a feverous pace. He attracted the attention of the retreating defenders and then hesitated slightly, magnetizing the defenders into coming forward at KDB to challenge for the ball. But oh my gawd, De Bruyne knows this and planned for it, rolling the perfect ball out to the trailing Sterling (always there isn't he?) to blast home just inside the box, just as defenders flew into KDB, chasing the ball that was already in the back of their net. 
               This proved to be the most crucial goal of the match, sending West Ham to a 2-0 deficit and beginning the 5-0 rout. De Bruyne wasn't shying away from injury scares either, sprawling his legs into 5 tackles vs West Ham, completing all 5 and displaying a delicious midfield panache that we missed all of last season and dropping 3 key passes.
               De Bruyne followed this up with a devastating performance against Tottenham, collecting a duo of assists from "beyond perfection" crossing and passing. KDB was launching in cross after cross from the right wing, combining with Bernardo Silva for the little ball out for KDB's underlapping run, whipping in accurate cross and on the ground cutback, one after another and setting up 9 chances altogether for his teammates.
                His first assist (and 2nd to Raheem Sterling already this season) came from yet another combination from Bernardo to KDB, this time the Belgian whipping in a bending, diagonal cross to the back stick that only Raheem Sterling sniffed out, meeting the ball with his head and placing it into the far corner (not an easy header, either). It was the most riotous cross we've seen from KDB and one he pulls out of his locker often. 
             And he kept it up, never dipping his level as he went after Spurs like a rabid dog after a poor little kitty.
            He went around Bernardo's outside again and the Portugal international fed him with a perfect little ball, setting up the crossing attempt with perfection. KDB then smashed in a low and hard on-the-ground cross that was feasted upon by Sergio Aguero, the Argentine smashing it into the net for KDB's 2nd assist of the match.
           But the Belgian wasn't done just yet.
             Once again, he went around the outside of Bernardo Silva's right wing base of operations and received another through ball to his right hip. The pass from Bernardo contained the perfect weight and timing for KDB to swing his hip around and clap the ball with the inside of his right foot, sending in a cutback to the penalty spot for Ilkay Gundogan's onrushing arrival, only for the Turkish-German's shot to go wayward by a foot or two.
               Always the sphere of influence, 
De Bruyne's accuracy 
from corner 
kicks 
additionally 
caused the 
havoc that
 created the 
3rd goal, later removed by VAR
 due to Laporte's handball assist. 
              And to say Kevin loves playing against Tottenham is an under-statement as we've now seen him grab 5 assists in his last 3 matches against Pochettino's men.
                We're so excited to have Kevin De Bruyne back, as this man is only second to Lionel Messi when it comes to the creativity department; although with the Belgian, you do feel he is aiming to grab assist after assist in every match he plays, while also aiming for the optimum teammate no matter the situation.
              His unselfishness has helped him out mightily, even when uncredited with an official assist, his influence and fantastic decision making on the ball is usually at the heart of each goal Manchester City score.
              And we feel he is so hungry right now to make up for lost time (and the surprisingly bizarre fact he just turned 28 in late June) that he's firmly prepared to grab 25+ assists this season in all competitions. 
              We think he could even do 25 in the Premier League, therefore breaking Thierry Henry's record of 23 in a single Premier League season (achieved in 2005, a season of creative insanity from Henry and the rest of his Arsenal teammates, such as the time in May 2005 when the Arsenal captain grabbed two hat tricks of assists in consecutive matches played 6 days a part from each other).
              That is the history Kevin is flirting with, although we'll continue to see him piling on the chances and delivering the ball to such illustrious finishers like Raheem Sterling (already at 5 goals, 2 from KDB), Sergio Aguero (already on 2 goals, 1 from KDB) and a resurgent Gabriel Jesus (his brilliant finish made him worthy of being at 2 goals, but VAR and Laporte's Pep-approved "Hand of God" assist shave 1 of those off) among many many others. Statistically speaking, we could easily see De Bruyne eclipse 25 assists this campaign and all of us should hope he does just that.
              With De Bruyne on the
 pitch, we all know what will happen: he will do unbelievable things against any opponent and City or Belgium will win 99% of the time, however if Pep Guardiola runs his talisman ragged and doesn't rotate him efficiently and carefully, we could see a recurrence of the horrific injuries that took half of a season from Kevin De Bruyne (and all of us getting to watch him). Let's all hope Guardiola comes to his senses and doesn't overuse De Bruyne, who's already played 249 minutes across 3 matches to start the season.



MOST CHANCES CREATED
1. Hakim Ziyech (AJAX): 22
2. Donny Van De Beek  (AJAX): 15
3. Kevin De Bruyne (CITY): 12
4. Dusan Tadic (AJAX): 11
5a. Jordan Ferri (MONT): 10
5b.Riyad Boudebouz (STET): 10
6. Marcel Sabitzer (LEIPZIG): 9

MOST ASSISTS
1. Donny Van De Beek (AJAX): 4
2. Marcel Sabitzer  (LEIPZIG): 3
3. Thiago Mendes (LYON): 3
4. Kevin De Bruyne  (CITY): 3
5a.Jadon Sancho (BVB): 2
5b.Houssem Aouar (LYON): 2