The best Champions League January arrivals hoping to inspire European success

The Champions League returns this week, and so too do a number of familiar faces from the competition. Despite their respective teams' exits from European competition earlier this season, having moved to a new side in January; it prolongs their spell in Europe's elite club tournament. Featuring new arrivals at Liverpool and Tottenham, we take a look at the best transferred players who are set to star in the Champions League over the coming weeks.  

Yannick Carrasco - Atletico Madrid 

Yannick Carrasco returned to Atletico Madrid at the end of January as the LaLiga side secured his services on loan for the remainder of the season. Having enjoyed a fine Chinese Super League campaign, with 17 goals and seven assists yielding a WhoScored rating of 7.73, the Belgian winger has been used sparingly by Diego Simeone, with his 64 minutes of league action coming across three sub outings. 

With Atletico up against Liverpool in the last-16 stage of the Champions League, it may be a short-lived return to European competition for Carrasco, who could be thrust into the starting XI sooner than expected given injury concerns over Joao Felix, Alvaro Morata and Diego Costa. That said, he has the dribbling capability, a WhoScored strength deemed to be Very Strong, to help this Atletico side, that has lost just the once on home turf this season, to a first leg upset against the European champions at the Wanda Metropolitano this week. 

Erling Haaland - Borussia Dortmund 

What a start to life in Germany Erling Haaland has made. The Norwegian hitman has scored nine goals in six competitive appearances for Borussia Dortmund on the back of his arrival from Salzburg. A change in rules by UEFA that allowed players to play for two teams in a single Champions League campaign from the 2018/19 season onwards has benefitted Haaland massively in his push for the golden boot. 

Only Robert Lewandowski (10) has scored more Champions League goals than Haaland (8) this season and he'll aim to maintain his fine domestic and European form when Borussia Dortmund take on PSG this week. In what is arguably the tie of the round, PSG's defensive woes means Haaland will fancy his chances of moving closer to Lewandowski in the Champions League goalscoring charts and his second debut in the competition is well worth watching this week. 

Takumi Minamino - Liverpool 

Another Salzburg star who departed Austria for pastures new this month is Takumi Minamino. The Japan star impressed in the group stages as Salzburg crashed out of the Champions League, with his performance at Anfield catching the eye of the Reds, who caught a glimpse of his talent up close and personal earlier in the season. 

While he hasn't made quite the same impression as Haaland has for Dortmund, Minamino strengthens Liverpool's depth considerably. He ranked highly for key passes from open play (12) in the group stages and is a solid deputy for Robert Firmino in Jurgen Klopp's favoured 4-3-3 setup. The Reds XI largely picks itself, so we're unlikely to see Minamino play an influential role from the get go, yet he's a fine additional option for Klopp as Liverpool seek to defend their European crown. 

Dani Olmo - RB Leipzig 

Dani Olmo was linked with a Premier League switch last summer, but a move failed to materialise. The Spaniard, though, continued to impress in the Champions League despite Dinamo Zagreb's group stage exit, with a fine volley in their 4-1 home defeat at the hands of Manchester City a timely reminder of his quality. 

RB Leipzig ultimately stumped up the cash to buy Olmo in January and he approaches their European tie with Tottenham on the back of his solid showing in their 3-1 win at Werder Bremen. While it remains to be seen whether Olmo will start in north London - Julian Nagelsmann is spoilt for choice in the final third - the U21 Euros winner is a handy option for the RB Leipzig boss to call upon as the Bundesliga side gear up to make their knockout stage debut in the Champions League.  

Steven Bergwijn - Tottenham 

Olmo's place in the RB Leipzig XI may be up for grabs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this week, but Steven Bergwijn is all-but guaranteed a starting spot for Spurs. The Dutchman bagged on his debut against Manchester City and won the penalty for the north London side's second at Villa Park on Sunday. The 22-year-old failed to have a direct hand in PSV's doomed Europa League campaign, yet that is unlikely to dent his confidence on Wednesday night. 

Bergwijn has looked an exciting addition to this Tottenham side in his two appearances following his arrival from PSV last month and the hope now is that he can maintain his good start to life in London when RB Leipzig come to town this week. Indeed, the youngster's European form leaves plenty of room for improvement, however he has quickly endeared himself to the Spurs faithful and can do more so with another fine showing to help get Tottenham's knockout stage campaign off to a winning start.