10 Best Passers In World Football Right Now
Passing is one of the most basic parts of football, but it’s also one of the most important. If you have a top-notch passer of the ball in your team, you ought to find a goal-scoring opportunity sooner than later. Great passing makes a team confident going forward and also in getting hold of the game.
There have been world-class passers in the past, but the current generation isn’t far behind. Here, we will discuss the 10 best passers in world football right now.
We have tried to rank the best passers in the world right now by checking the statistics of the past couple of seasons. Here are the ten best passers in world football right now.
10. Marco Verratti
Marco Verratti has always been a textbook midfielder with flawless dribbling skills and ball control. He is one of the only few midfielders in the world who could outshine Real Madrid’s UCL-winning midfield trio on the pitch. You might not see Verratti in the list of players with most assists, but his impact on the team goes beyond goals and assists. The 2021-22 Ligue 1 season was another successful season for the Italian. He ended the season with 92% accurate passes per game which stands to show how accurate he is with the ball.
9. Joshua Kimmich
A player as versatile as Joshua Kimmich is a dream for every manager. Kimmich can play at multiple positions without dropping the quality of his performance. The German provided 11 assists in Bundesliga in the 2021-22 season and had a pass completion rate of 88%. He has also been a champion performer in the UEFA Champions League and has provided 2 assists in the 2022-23 campaign already in just 2 games. All in all, he’s one of the best passers of the ball in world football currently.
8. Luis Alberto
Luis Alberto is an underrated passer of the ball with exceptional playmaking skills. In the 2020-21 season in Serie A, the Spanish international managed to bag 10 assists for Lazio and scored 5 goals. The Spaniard created 14 big chances in the 2021-22 season showing how dominant he has been with the ball at his feet. He ended the season with 88% pass completion rate and deserved to play in the UEFA Champions League, which Lazio failed to do so in the 2022-23 season. They currently play in the UEFA Europa League where Alberto has already scored a goal and provided an assist in just 2 starts.
7. Bruno Fernandes
Manchester United might be struggling at the moment, but Bruno Fernandes is one of the few positives they have in their squad. The 2021-22 season was not as flourishing for the Portuguese as his 2020-21 season, but a lot of it has to do with the transition phase that United are going through. In the UEFA Champions League, Bruno was in exceptional form with 6 assists in the campaign and 8 big chances created for the team. So far in the 2022-23 season, Fernandes has been quiet, but with each game, he is getting his grip back.
6. Dani Parejo
Dani Parejo is one player who doesn’t get the spotlight as much as he deserves especially when he’s such a sublime passer of the ball. He is one of the best midfielders in La Liga, thanks to his playmaking skills and long-range passing. The Spaniard completed 88% of passes in the league in the 2021-22 season and provided 10 assists in the league. He has been the backbone of Villarreal CF and without him, the Spanish club would have had a hard time playing in European competitions.
5. Toni Kroos
Real Madrid have hacked the football world by fielding Toni Kroos and Luka Modric together. This is exactly where Real Madrid instill fear into their opponents. Kroos dictates the tempo at which Real Madrid play and has been one of the major reasons behind the club’s success in winning the league and the UCL in the 2021-22 season. In the 2021-22 season, Toni Kroos had completed 95% of the passes in the league. No other player in the top 5 leagues had a better pass completion percentage than the German.
4. Trent Alexander-Arnold
It takes a series of exceptional and consistent performances for a right-back to be named as one of the best passers in world football. Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold has proven himself to be extremely beneficial to the team’s success. Although the start of Liverpool’s 2022-23 season hasn’t been what they hoped for, that doesn’t take anything away from the Englishman as an individual performer. Trent Alexander-Arnold provided 12 assists in the Premier League in the 2021-22 season, the second-highest in the season. He also created 18 big chances in the league, just 1 behind the league leader, Harry Kane. That is an astonishing performance for a right-back.
3. Luka Modric
Luke Modric leads the Real Madrid midfield like a true warrior and that has brought massive success for The Royal Whites. He had a major role to play in helping Real Madrid win their 14th UCL title and 35th league title. I mean who can forget the sublime outside-the-foot pass to Rodrygo against Chelsea in the UCL? That was a peak footballing moment and there are only a handful of players capable of pulling that off. For club and country, Modric takes the role of a deep-lying playmaker and does it to perfection. In the 2021-22 season, the Croatian had an 89% pass completion rate in the league, showing how dominant his performance had been in the season.
2. Lionel Messi
It is criminal to leave Lionel Messi out of this list, or any other list for that matter. You can count on Messi to be a playmaker, a goal scorer, set piece taker, you name it. In his first season with Paris Saint-Germain, the Argentine provided 14 assists in the league. In the 2022-23 season, the little magician has already provided 7 assists in just 9 games. Messi has created 10 big chances for his teammates in the season already and in the 2021-22 season, he created 17 big chances. He’s the true epitome of fine wine, getting better with age.
1. Kevin De Bruyne
Kevin De Bruyne is easily the best passer in world football currently and he has the stats and the performance to back it up. The addition of Erling Haaland had made the Belgian international even more dangerous than he was without Haaland. Just 8 games into the season, De Bruyne and Haaland have taken European football by storm. Just 9 games into the 2022-23 season, KdB has provided 9 assists in the Premier League and 2 assists in the Champions League. To put things into perspective, the midfielder provided 8 assists in the Premier League in the entire 2021-22 season.