Revealed: Europe’s best playmakers are named in new list from football boffins CIES Observatory, with Cole Palmer SECOND behind unlikely Portuguese star – and an Everton player in the Premier League’s top four creators
Cole Palmer has been ranked by football experts as Europe’s second-best playmaker, in further recognition of the Englishman’s phenomenal talent.
The Chelsea star has provided 19 assists since joining the Blues last summer and is developing a lethal partnership with Nicolas Jackson this season.
Brainiacs at the CIES Football Observatory have painstakingly created a chance creation index that combines assists, passes that lead to a clear chance, and other factors to determine the best playmakers.
Palmer scores 94.3 on the index and is beaten only by Paris Saint-Germain’s Joao Neves, 20, the former Benfica youngster who was chased by a host of top clubs this summer. Given his rating of 99.4, it is Arsenal’s credit that they limited his influence in Tuesday night’s 2-0 Champions League win.
Mohamed Salah is the only other Premier League star to sneak into the top 10. He comes ninth with a score of 87.1 and is in favor of a top contract with Liverpool, despite being 32 years old. He already has four assists this season.
Cole Palmer has been ranked by football experts as the second best playmaker in Europe
PSG and Portugal star Joao Neves tops the competition with a score of 99.4
Mohamed Salah has the second best score in the Premier League, ninth in Europe
Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and Everton’s Dwight McNeil round out the top 15 European makers, with scores of 85.3 and 85.1.
Tottenham duo James Maddison and Heung Min-son and, perhaps to some surprise, Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo are not far behind.
Lamine Yamal has been all the rage since his breathtaking performances in Spain’s victorious Euro 2024 campaign and he sits in fourth place despite being just 17 years old.
Werder Bremen’s lesser-known name Romano Schmid sneaks into the top three, while Villarreal’s talented winger Alex Baena comes fifth. Intriguingly, Werder Bremen is the only club with two players in the top 10 – their Mitchell Weiser also breaks in.
This latest victory for Palmer, who is ahead of his Premier League rivals in the index, supports his manager Enzo Maresca’s claim that he is the ‘best player’ in the Premier League after putting four goals past Brighton last weekend scored.
‘Goals, assists, best player in the Premier League, this doesn’t change what he is. He is a simple man, a humble man and this is the most important thing for me,” Maresca said.
‘Nowadays, young players in football change very quickly. They score one goal and think they’re already… you know.
“Cole, he has scored a lot of goals, made a lot of assists, he is a top player, but he never changes and this is the most important thing.”
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On a technical level, Palmer actually has the third best score in Europe as a whole.
The survey yields a score of 94.4 for Racing Santander’s Inigo Vicente, but he plays in Spain’s second division.
There is also another colossus of world football who is gaining the upper hand over Palmer from 65 ranked competitions: Lionel Messi.
According to the research, Inter Miami’s star has not lost his shine. He scored a whopping 98.2, making him the second-best scorer in the world, with Palmer in fourth place behind Neves, him and Vicente.
