Why have Premier League goalkeepers turned into prime Lionel Messi?
Goalkeepers from Manchester City, Everton and Brighton are among those to have provided a Premier League assist in 2024-25.
Advancements in football in recent years have seen goalkeepers become much more adept with their feet, with some now absolutely immense passers of the ball.
In the 2024-25 Premier League season, the assist record by goalkeepers has been broken, with the nine so far surpassing the eight goalkeeper assists of 1992-93 and 2007-08. Here’s who did it…
Ederson (4)
Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson is perhaps the leading light in world football as a goalkeeper with the ball at his feet. He holds the record for assists by a Premier League stopper, and four of those have come this season.
His first came for Erling Haaland in a 2-1 win over Brentford, and his next two were in back-to-back league games, another for Haaland, in a win over Chelsea, and then the opener in a 4-0 victory over Newcastle, for Omar Marmoush.
Ederson’s latest assist came in a 5-2 win over Crystal Palace, James McAtee the beneficiary of a perfect ball over the defence, which help up perfectly for the Englishman to run onto before he rounded the keeper to score.
Mark Flekken (2)
Flekken ranks in the 99th percentile for touches compared to other goalkeepers in top-five leagues, highlighting his competence with the ball at his feet.
It was the Brentford keeper’s second assist of the season, for Yoane Wissa in a victory over Nottingham Forest, which broke the Premier League record.
Flekken’s first assist of the season came for defender Nathan Collins, who had broken behind Newcastle’s back line when a defender failed to head the ball away, striking past Nick Pope.
Bernd Leno (1)
Fulham goalkeeper Leno is one of a few who have just one assist in the Premier League this season. It came in a 3-1 loss against Aston Villa in October.
The Cottagers opened the scoring when Leno lumped the ball long, and Raul Jimenez was too strong for Pau Torres, shoving him out of the path of the ball before he could intercept it on the run back to goal, and knocking the ball into the corner.
Jordan Pickford (1)
One of the very most important parts of Pickford’s game is his kicking, highlighted by England as a way to quickly transition into attack.
The 75-cap Three Lions man has just the one assist so far this season for club side Everton, in a 4-0 thumping of Leicester City.
The Toffees opened the scoring inside the first 10 seconds of the game, the ball immediately knocked back to Pickford, who skied the ball both high and long, and as it landed, Abdoulaye Doucoure did well to run onto it and keep it in his path so he could leather it into the back of the net.
Bart Verbruggen (1)
Brighton goalkeeper Verbruggen assisted one of the very best goals in the Premier League this season. Given time by Chelsea attackers, the Seagulls man was able to spray an inch-perfect pass onto the boot of Kaoru Mitoma.
From there, the Japanese forward plucked it from the sky as if his feet were pillows, wrong footing a Blues defender and jinking past him to make space for the shot and goal.
Mitoma got most of the acclaim for a perfect touch and finish, but were Verbruggen’s pass to have been a foot either side, the goal would not have happened.
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