The January 2020 transfer window has been a bumper one for Bundesliga clubs in search of a mid-season boost to their 2019/20 ambitions, with the likes of Erling Haaland already making an impact at Borussia Dortmund, and Hertha Berlin looking particularly busy.

bundesliga.com has put together quite a team from January’s new signings…

Alexander Nübel
Age: 23
Position: Goalkeeper
Joined: Bayern Munich
From: Schalke

Admittedly this transfer doesn’t actually go through until the summer, but it was confirmed during the winter break that one of Germany’s most promising goalkeepers, Alexander Nübel, will leave Schalke at the end of his contract in the summer and move to Munich, following in the footsteps of another former Royal Blue captain, Manuel Neuer.

The Paderborn youth product only broke into the Schalke first team this time last year when Domenico Tedesco picked him over Ralf Fährmann, and he retained his first-choice status under Huub Stevens and David Wagner. In 41 games for the senior squad, the U21 Germany international has kept 14 clean sheets.

Alvaro Odriozola
Age: 24
Position: Right-back
Joined: Bayern Munich (loan)
From: Real Madrid

According to Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, coach Hansi Flick had stated his desire for further defensive reinforcements, particularly at right-back, and so the club fulfilled that wish with a clever six-month loan for Alvaro Odriozola. It’s a move that works for all sides. Not only does it provide the Bundesliga champions with a natural right-back, it allows key performers like Joshua Kimmich and Benjamin Pavard to play in more preferred central positions, allowing greater flexibility for Flick’s selections.

It’s also of benefit to Odriozola himself, who has found playing time limited at Real Madrid since his arrival from youth club Real Sociedad in 2018. The four-time Spain international found himself in and out of the team last year under Julen Lopetegui, Santiago Solari and Zinedine Zidane, making just 22 appearances in all competitions but weighing in with nine assists and a goal, but this season’s he’s very much had to play second fiddle to former Bayer Leverkusen man Dani Carvajal, and arrives in Bavaria looking to do a job and play more.

Jean-Clair Todibo
Age: 20
Position: Centre-back
Joined: Schalke (loan)
From: Barcelona

Another youngster eager for more opportunities than afforded them in Spain, French defender Jean-Clair Todibo has packed his bags after just five games in 12 months for Barcelona and joined the Wagner revolution in Gelsenkirchen. Although he grew up in Paris, the 20-year-old was born in France’s South American overseas territory of French Guiana, and seems to have brought some of the continent’s footballing flair with him.

While primarily a central defender, Todibo has proven himself more than comfortable and adept in a central midfield role, providing calmness and composure on the ball. Described by Germany legend Lothar Matthäus as “the best centre-back I’ve seen in a long time”, Schalke have an option to make the loan permanent in the summer, which comes a year after he made it to the last 16 of the FIFA U20 World Cup with France.

Alvaro Odriozola has been brought in on loan from Real Madrid to strengthen the Bayern Munich defence. - A. Hassenstein/Getty Images for FC Bayern

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Marin Pongracic
Age: 22
Position: Centre-back
Joined: Wolfsburg
From: Red Bull Salzburg

Since making his senior debut in 2017, 22-year-old Marin Pongracic has become almost irreplaceable in the centre of defence for whoever he’s played for. That began at 1860 Munich when he was brought into the first team to try and prevent their relegation from Bundesliga 2 in 2016/17. A move to Red Bull Salzburg followed, where it was really only injuries that kept him out of Marco Rose’s team, and he thrice faced his new boss Oliver Glasner while he was in charge of LASK as the defender won back-to-back titles and the Austrian Cup.

Although born in Bavaria, Pongracic has so far represented the country of his parents, winning three caps for Croatia’s U21s. That Bavarian connection of course means he found his way onto the radar of local powerhouse Bayern, and that was indeed where the defender began his playing career before a move to Ingolstadt’s academy as a 16-year-old. The transfer to Wolfsburg, though, is set to provide a first taste of Bundesliga football in his homeland for the 6’2’’ centre-back.

Emre Can
Age: 26
Position: Midfielder/Defender
Joined: Borussia Dortmund (loan)
From: Juventus

Another player returning to the Bundesliga after five and a half years away is Emre Can, the Germany international looking to boost his chances of representing his country at Euro 2020 with his performances for Dortmund. A midfield all-rounder, Frankfurt-born Can got his education first with Eintracht Frankfurt and then at Bayern, where he made his professional debut in the 2012 DFL Supercup. His first outings for the Bavarians were mainly as a full-back, though he proved equally adept in the midfield, which is where he commanded a regular start for Bayer Leverkusen in the 2013/14 campaign.

His next move came just a year later, when he shifted back into defence with Liverpool, although he truly flourished under former Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp. Aside from his impeccable work ethic, fine technical skills and an imposing 6"0' frame, Can brings to the table an understanding of the game that few players at his level share, and this goes some way to explaining a versatility that Dortmund coach Lucien Favre can now benefit from, as the treble-winner from 2013 bids to win more silverware with a Bundesliga club.

Santiago Ascacibar
Age: 22
Position: Defensive midfield
Joined: Hertha Berlin
From: VfB Stuttgart

No stranger to the Bundesliga, Argentinian midfielder Santiago Ascacibar arrived on German shores in 2017 when he joined VfB Stuttgart, and after sticking with the Swabian club following their relegation to Bundesliga 2, he has now opted to make a return to the top flight. A combative midfielder who is not one to shirk any tackle – as the 22 yellow cards and two reds he received in two Bundesliga seasons suggest – the pint-sized battler offers a real physical presence in the midfield.

The La Plata native has represented his country already, including at the 2016 Olympic Games, and is tipped to be Javier Mascherano's long-term replacement in the Albiceleste. Hertha will look to his battling qualities and determination to help lift them away from the relegation zone, and if they do have to scrap it out at the bottom, they could hardly have asked for a better fighter than Ascacibar to pack some punches.

Watch: Emre Can, made in the Bundesliga

Lucas Tousart
Age: 22
Position: Midfield
Joined: Hertha Berlin
From: Lyon

Destined to partner Ascacibar in Hertha's midfield is another 22-year-old who is also battle-ready. Lucas Tousart has made over 250 appearances for French club Olympique Lyon, scoring five goals and supplying six assists. Yet it is his ability to win back possession and distribute the ball that convinced Hertha to bring in a France U19 European Champion, who already has UEFA Europa League experience to boot.

He averages 84 per cent for pass completion and three challenges won per game, in the mould of a no-nonsense battering ram: uncompromising in the tackle, strong in the air and with a razor-sharp short-passing game. The French midfielder, with 22 caps for Les Bleuets' U21s, is not afraid of leaving the imprint of his boot laces on the ball either, ramming in two goals for Lyon this season and setting up three. Hertha have got their hands on a veritable midfield all-rounder.

Dani Olmo
Age: 21
Position: Attacking midfield
Joined: RB Leipzig
From: Dinamo Zagreb

A graduate of Barcelona's famed La Masia academy, Dani Olmo has inevitably been compared with Lionel Messi, not least for the fact he was his age group's top-scorer in four out of the six seasons he spent in the La Liga giant's nursery. He sought greater playing time elsewhere, however, debuting in the Dinamo Zagreb first team at the age of 16 and being named Player of the Year in Croatia in 2019. In 124 appearances for Dinamo, the Spanish attacking midfielder scored an impressive 34 goals.

The 21-year-old's preferred position is in the No.10 role behind a striker, which is where he played for the Spain national team when he made his debut from the bench against Malta in November 2019. Olmo came on in the 66th minute and scored three minutes later. His game is more about creativity, though, with his excellent close control and natural talent on the ball earning him the time to pick out that deadly pass, and he has the ability to execute it too. Young, talented and dangerous? Olmo ticks all the Leipzig boxes.

Krzysztof Piatek
Age: 24
Position: Striker
Joined: Hertha Berlin
From: AC Milan

The Bundesliga knows a thing or two about prolific Polish goalscorers, and another has just arrived in the shape of Piatek. While Robert Lewandowski went to Genoa in Italy before arriving in the Bundesliga, he did not actually ink his name on the contract proposed to him by the Serie A side. That might explain why the Ligurian club were particularly keen not to let Piatek slip through their hands in 2018, and he duly added to the 32 goals he had scored in 63 Polish top-flight games for Cracovia by netting 19 in 21 competitive appearances for Il Grifone.

While Piatek stayed in Genoa longer than Lewandowski - the Bayern striker ultimately deciding his future lay elsewhere - he still only lasted six months before moving on to AC Milan, where he continued his scoring spree with a further nine Serie A strikes, accompanying each with his trademark gun-wielding celebration that earned him the nickname 'Il Pistolero'. Hertha will hope he can rediscover his ratio of scoring with every fifth shot last season, and fire them up the table.

Watch: Haaland's first five goals for Dortmund

Erling Haaland
Age: 19
Position: Striker
Joined: Borussia Dortmund
From: Red Bull Salzburg

He has not even spent an hour on the field, yet Erling Haaland has already scored five goals since joining Dortmund from Red Bull Salzburg this winter. No player in the history of the Bundesliga has ever made such an immediate impact, and the signs are this 19-year-old has plenty more in the tank. It is fair to say that in his two substitute appearances to date, Haaland has shown why Dortmund had to beat some of the continent's biggest clubs to secure the Norwegian's services.

Do not for one second believe that the second youngest hat-trick scorer in Bundesliga history is a one-hit wonder, though. He did the same for his former club on the UEFA Champions League stage, becoming the first player in the history of the competition to score three goals with his first four shots. In a city where they are accustomed to introducing legendary goalscorers to the Bundesliga, Haaland's first few steps have been more than just promising, and he has set a very high bar.

Munas Dabbur
Age: 27
Position: Striker
Joined: Hoffenheim
From: Sevilla

While Dabbur has already changed countries four times, one thing has not changed no matter what territory he has been in: his ability to score goals. He topped the scoring charts in Switzerland with Grasshoppers in 2015/16, having already shown his goalscoring ability with 23 in 78 games for Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel, and fared even better in Austria with Red Bull Salzburg. He finished top-scorer twice, with 22 and 20 goals respectively, and earned a move to Sevilla in the summer after being named the Austrian Bundesliga's Player of the Year.

Despite being given more limited opportunities in Spain, whenever Dabbur was called into action, he delivered with three goals and two assists in nine outings. The ninth Israeli to play in the Bundesliga, Dabbur should have no problems settling in in Sinsheim, where he finds a youngster destined to become the 10th Israeli to feature in Germany's top flight: Ilay Emkies, part of Hoffenheim's U19 team. And as his past record shows, when Dabbur is settled, he scores goals.

About the clubs

VfL Wolfsburg

Volkswagen Arena

TSG Hoffenheim

PreZero Arena

Hertha BSC

Olympiastadion

FC Schalke 04

VELTINS-Arena

Borussia Dortmund

SIGNAL IDUNA PARK

FC Bayern München

Allianz Arena