Piatek, Paqueta and Prince: 5 intriguing January transfers worth keeping an eye on

The January transfer window passed off more or less without too much incident.

In 2019 terms, that means no nine-figure transfer fees or clubs threatening all-out war on each other, though Frenkie De Jong rejecting Paris Saint-Germain in favour of Barcelona could well end up providing the same result.

We still had some big names on the move, most notably Gonzalo Higuain joining Chelsea and Mario Balotelli finding yet another new home.

As much of the talk seemed to revolve around deals being put in place for the summer, though, with De Jong's blockbuster move the biggest but also Bayern Munich's pursuit of Callum Hudson-Odoi , Benjamin Pavard and Lucas Hernandez as well as Chelsea's purchase of USA wonderkid Christian Pulisic.

Of the players who moved clubs in January though, who are the most intriguing personalities to now follow? Well, here is an idea:

Leonardo thinks he has found his new Kaka. He'd better hope so.

Milan have been a bit of a joke in recent years and their recruitment has put the dash into slapdash. Should this gamble on a Brazilian playmaker pay off, though, it could be ultimately a very significant turning point in the future of this grand old club.

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Having been taken over by an American hedge fund, there is some concern that down the line Milan will not be run in the best interests of the club but its investors. That may mean Paqueta becomes unkeepable should offers roll in.

The model for the deal would be Kaka's record-breaking move from San Siro to Real Madrid and if Paqueta has anything close to the impact of his compatriot then Milan will have found a bargain.

There are just as many big-money Brazilians who have flopped, however, and we'll be watching this one closely.

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PSG spent much of January chasing two midfielders - Frenkie De Jong and Idrissa Gana Gueye. They signed neither.

They ended up with Leandro Paredes, a player who started out as number 10 at Boca Juniors but has been converted to more of a deep-lying playmaker at Zenit. PSG tried - but failed at the last minute - to switch targets from Idrissa Gueye - an all-action midfielder - to Luciano Acosta, a converted 10 brought up in the same Boca team as Paredes. It was a move that raised some eyebrows among scouting circles.

Acosta was cheap, so it might not necessarily have ended up being a huge mistake for a club with some of the deepest pockets on the planet but, equally, their recruitment doesn't make a load of sense when you consider they already boast some of the best creative midfielders under 25 in Europe - they've just got rid of them.

Giovani Lo Celso is on loan at Betis this season with an option to buy. Lo Celso is a far better player than Acosta or Paredes but has been kicked to the curb. It is not to say Paredes won't succeed at PSG but given the club's recent history of falling out of love very quickly with new signings, it's hard to imagine a world where Paredes isn't already out the door on loan inside a year.

A fine player, but one who they never appeared to be that keen on. Wait until the next shiny thing flies past the window.

Show us someone who saw this one coming and we will show you a liar.

Of all January's unpredictable deals this one has to be the most wild - a veteran journeyman midfielder brought in by Barcelona, the Barcelona, to fill a gap up front.

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Ernesto Valverde's Barca are clearly very different to previous iterations of the team during the Lionel Messi era. It is, after all, how they've got away with having players like Paulinho and Arturo Vidal who didn't look completely out of place.

Boateng has shown flashes of what he is capable of but needs to be kept on the straight and narrow. It's unlikely to be a long marriage between these two parties but that's not to say it can't be productive. Boateng will likely be a La Liga winner by the summer and you'd be foolish to rule them out of the Champions League running.

Brahim signed for Real Madrid after rejecting a new contract with Manchester City.

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The young playmaker wanted first-team football and that is what Real Madrid promised him, a place in the first-team squad and the chance to play some minutes.

Those minutes have already dwindled from a pretty poor starting point. Brahim played 12 minutes as a substitute on his debut, six minutes from the bench in his second and then just four minutes in the defeat to Leganes two weeks ago.

He hasn't played since.

Brahim had played more minutes than those three games combined in each of his Man City appearances this season (55, 78, 66). It already makes you wonder whether he's made the right move, though with the obvious caveat that Santiago Solari is almost certain to not be there next season.

With Patrick Cutrone on the staff and Andre Silva still owned by the club, it's confusing as to why Milan wanted to go for another talented but unproven young striker. Gonzalo Higuain's departure brought them Piatek though, and hope that the Polish striker wasn't just a flash in the pan.

Piatek exploded onto the scene in August with four goals in a Coppa Italia game against Lecce. That form continued into the league season with the Poland international streaking to the top of the capocannoniere rankings as he scored 14 goals in 10 games across all competitions in August and September.

October was quiet for the youngster but he found form again in the winter and despite talking down a move, ended up becoming Higuain's replacement in Milan.

There is a chance that, with this sort of goalscoring record, Piatek becomes one of Europe's top strikers and this deal goes down as a bargain. Given his lack of production prior to this campaign, it's hard to know. We'll be following closely nonetheless.