array_column is the only function out of array_values, array_merge, array_slice and array_column that does de-reference values. Also, it works recursive!
<?php
$values = [];
$values['a'] = [];
$values['a']['b'] = 'foo';
$references = [];
$references['a'] = &$values['a'];
$copyColumn = array_combine(array_keys($references), array_column($references, null));
$values['a']['b'] = 'baz';
echo $copyColumn['a']['b'] . PHP_EOL; echo $references['a']['b'] . PHP_EOL; ?>
If you want to preserve the keys you can use
<?php
$dereferenced = array_combine(array_keys($references), array_column($references, null))
?>
