Michael Olise Could Smash The Biggest Assist Record In Modern Football

Michael Olise has burst into elite creative territory this season. As of today, he has 21 assists in 29 games across all competitions for Bayern Munich in the 2025/26 season. An astonishing rate that has put him on course for more assists than anyone in a single European campaign in the 21st century.

At this pace, Olise would reach 44 assists if he played 60 matches, a figure that would eclipse some of the greatest creative seasons in modern football history.  The French winger started his career in England with Reading before making a name for himself at Crystal Palace in the Premier League. He was always talented, but it was at Bayern where his output exploded into something exceptional. 

His blend of vision, technique and intelligence has turned him into a creator few defenders can contain. This season his contributions go way beyond any ordinary winger metric. Olise’s role under Bayern coach Vincent Kompany has been central to the German club’s domestic dominance. Bayern sit top of the Bundesliga and are deep into the Champions League. 

Olise’s creative spark is a huge reason why. He has been involved in goals not just through assists but through constant threat creation that draws defenders and opens space for his teammates. 

To understand the significance of what he is doing it helps to look at the historical yardsticks. Until now, the greatest assist seasons in this era have been held by iconic creators like Lionel Messi and Juan Mata. 

Messi’s 32 assists in all competitions set a modern high while Mata’s 35 across Europe’s major leagues stands tall as one of the best creative campaigns this century. Olise could surpass both if he maintains his current trajectory. 

The League Leaders: Where Olise Stands In The Modern Creative Landscape

To fully grasp how remarkable Olise’s numbers are, let’s compare them with the best assist seasons of the modern era in Europe’s major leagues.

Lionel Messi’s creative output is legendary. In the 2019/20 season, he provided 32 assists in all competitions for Barcelona. It settled one of the absolute high-water marks in creative output for any player in the 21st century. 

Close behind is Juan Mata at Chelsea, whose 35-assist career record across all competitions in Europe still holds influence today. Olise, at 21 assists already, sits in elite historical company halfway through this current season, and there’s every reason to believe he could go beyond both of them. 

For further context, in the 2024/25 season, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah led Europe with 18 assists, and Olise was second with 15 before his output went next level at Bayern. That shows Olise is not just excelling in one league but is competitive with the best creators across all of Europe’s top competitions. 

This season, Olise has already set creative benchmarks within the Bundesliga. He leads the league’s assist charts and is the only player in Europe’s top leagues with double figures in both goals and assists, something that only the most complete attackers can achieve. His blend of goals and assists puts him in a creative tier much rarer than simply being a guru provider. Comparisons to historical figures should always be handled with nuance. 

Messi and Mata created records in different tactical eras, but the key similarity is this. Players who reach assist totals north of 30 in a season are extraordinary. Olise is on the verge of doing just that while driving a Bayern attack that has title expectations in three competitions, domestic league, cup and Europe. 

What Makes Olise So Dangerous On The Pitch

Numbers alone do not tell the whole story. Watching Olise play reveals why he racks up such a high assist count. First, he has world-class vision. He sees passes most players do not, threading balls around defenders with precision and timing. 

This is not luck but a skill that manifests in high-quality final passes that lead directly to goals. Analysts tracking advanced metrics show Olise posting among the best key pass numbers and creating consistently dangerous situations for his team. 

This ability makes him far more than just a pass provider; he is the architect of Bayern’s most incisive attacking sequences. Second, his positional intelligence allows him to find pockets of space between defensive lines. Whether drifting inside from the wing or dropping deeper to pick up the ball. 

Olise’s understanding of timing and movement gives him a creative edge that defenders struggle to cope with. He does not merely rely on mechanical skill. He reads the game and plays with a tactical maturity beyond his age. Third, his output is remarkably consistent. In the blistering 8-1 win over Wolfsburg in January, he scored twice and assisted as well. 

In another recent match, he came off the bench and delivered three assists and a goal in one half; that is the kind of elite impact that shapes narratives and affects title races. His creative impact extends beyond assists. Olise’s involvement in build-up and chance creation influences how games unfold. 

He draws attention from defenders, which creates space for teammates like Harry Kane and Lucas da Diaz. His presence alone shifts how opponents set up defensively, proving his value goes beyond the raw assist tally. 

Why This Season Could Be Historic For Olise

What Olise is doing at Bayern transcends normal expectations. The Bundesliga is historically a high-scoring league, yet even there, very few players approach the kind of assist numbers he is generating. 

With 21 assists already this season in all competitions and plenty of games still to play, Olise is on pace to break records once thought untouchable. If he ends the season with 40+ assists, it will not just be a Bayern or Bundesliga achievement; it will go down as one of the most creative campaigns ever recorded in Europe. 

Given that many fantastic assist makers in history struggled to reach even 30 in a full campaign, Olise’s trajectory this season is genuinely rare. His blend of creativity and consistency is putting him in elite company. 

Football fans and analysts will be watching closely. Every assist will now carry narrative weight not just for Bayern’s success but for Olise’s place in history. If he keeps creating as he has, fans decades from now might look back on 2025/26 as one of the great creative seasons in European football history.