The Nutmeg Files...

Ah, the Almighty Nutmeg - the football trick for any occasion - a source of great joy for the perpetrator but dig-me-a-hole embarrassment for the victim.

It goes by many aliases ('janelinha' in Brazil, 'panna' in the Netherlands, 'the tunnel' in Germany, Spain and Italy and - more obscurely - 'the apron' in Hungary), but the aim is always the same: to place the ball through the splayed legs of your opponent and run off into the distance cackling. 

Over the coming weeks and months of the 2021/22 season, Playmaker will provide regular updates on which players across Europe's 'Top 5' leagues are having a merry old time threading the ball through their opponents' legs - and here's our first installment. 

Before we launch into the present, let's quickly retrace the past and where the English footballing term 'nutmeg' came from. 

The widely-held consensus is that "nutmegged" was Victorian slang for being tricked or deceived by traders. Nutmegs were a valuable commodity and exporters would often place wooden replicas in cargo ships to trick buyers into thinking they'd received the full weight of nutmeg they'd ordered.

Fascinating. Anyway, onto the early season frontrunners in 2021/22 when it comes to 'Megs'. 

After the opening games across the Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1, Serie A and the Premier League, here are the main men so far:

Most nutmegs (UEFA's 'Top 5' leagues; 21/22):

3 megs: Danilo Soares (Bochum)

2 megs: Jeremy Doku (Rennes), André Hahn (Augsburg), Ismaila Sarr (Watford)

Hats off to that quartet of tricksters. Until next time...keep those legs shut!