Messi has 266 goals, most assists from 58 Suarez 29 Neymar (3 seasons) 20 Alba 18 Rakitic ... If you don't count Gomes, I think Rakitic has had the most over/under hit through balls for Messi, should've more assists than that.
Thanks for researching, should have more assists to Messi (and others), I agree, and yet he has more to Messi than any other midfielder. He also has often been positioned behind Messi on the right flank, (that is he's often the right attacking central midfielder, behind Messi's nominal RW, leading to him having more defensive duties, as Messi often is neither on that flank, nor terribly interested in defending) which may make the passing angles tougher. I don't want to be a big Rakitic apologist, nor overlook what he has given. I suspect he leads all Barca midfielders in goals for the past 5.5 years too. but some of that comes down to playing more minutes in mid than anyone besides Busquets, as Xavi then Iniesta 'retired' to non-European football and younger replacements have either just arrived (De Jong, Arthur, Vidal) and/or not adapted and/or not been given minutes in midfield (Coutinho, Roberto, Alena, Rafinha, Samper).
Yeah we haven't had other resident midfielders other than Rakitic and Busquets. Iniesta had 21 assists for Messi the last 5,5 seasons. Fabregas 17 in 3 seasons. But there's many times Messi has looked annoyed to Rakitic when the pass wasn't good enough. That's just a gut feeling, but I'm fairly sure he has most of them. Other than Gomes.
Great stats, but not sure it proves your point in the specific case of Rakitic. The numbers don’t come across as particularly low (also not high, of course). And, more generally, the assist stat has to be taken with a grain of salt. Especially if you’re not a forward or wing back. Take Xavi, for instance. In his final season with Barca he collected more assists than most seasons in his prime. Obviously he didn’t just become amazing at age 35. It just worked out that way. Iniesta would also have like 20 assists some seasons and then 10 in others, despite playing consistently the same number of matches and without being noticeably better or worse season-to-season.