Fun players to watch in UEFA Champions League qualifying

Up to this point, UEFA Champions League qualifying has only been on local TV. But the main broadcasters are nice enough to turn on the feed for the playoff round, which is your first chance to see some of the fun players kicking around in Europe’s smaller leagues.

If you’re going to be watching some football on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, here’s who you should keep an eye on.

Benjamin Nygren, RW, Celtic

Celtic’s new arrival scored 15 non-penalty goals off 10 xG last season in Denmark, turning in an absolutely monstrous shooting season. He doesn’t do a lot of dribbling or playmaking, but no one minds if you’re scoring that many goals.

That season earned him a place in the Sweden squad, where he’s already scored twice in 2025, and he’s on the board for Celtic in the Scottish Premiership as well. He looks like an absolute coup for the Bhoys, and could help them to some big successes before inevitably getting flipped for a profit.

Jovan Šljivić, CM, Red Star Belgrade

🚨 TINY SAMPLE SIZE ALERT 🚨

This radar comes from less than 300 minutes and is not real. But this isn’t a players teams should sign piece, it’s a fun players to watch one. And we might finally be getting a breakout season from Jovan Šljivić, who’s broken into Red Star Belgrade’s starting lineup.

Šljivić was a highly regarded wonderkid a couple years ago before his career stalled out a bit. But he has still been getting pro minutes and getting into the Serbia U-21 team, rather than falling off entirely. He’s been playing as an attack-minded No. 8, and he’ll be hoping he gets the chance to test himself in the Champions League.

Jefté, LB, Rangers

Fullbacks don’t get enough love, so meet Jefté, who’s already been a very good signing for Rangers. He put up big numbers in the Scottish Premiership, but unsurprisingly, his numbers fell off in European competition.

If Jefté wants to win himself a transfer to one of Europe’s top leagues, he’ll probably have to close the gap between his league and European numbers a bit, especially when it comes to ball progression.

Christos Tzolis, LW, Club Brugge

I don’t even know if this guy is going to dress — he’s been heavily linked to Crystal Palace and might get held out of the game if Brugge receive a big enough bid — but Christos Tzolis will be a key player if he gets on the pitch. He was a shot monster last year, and scored 22 goals in the 2. Bundesliga in the previous season.

It’s interesting that Palace is looking at him as an Eberechi Eze replacement, as he’s not particularly Eze-like. He’s more the wide striker variety of left winger than the half space playmaker type, but he’s certainly a good player regardless.

Bénie Traoré, LW, FC Basel

And why not follow up Tzolis with a guy who got a mention in our previous newsletter on guys who Palace could be scouting to replace Eze. Traoré struggled in a previous stint in England at Sheffield United, but was a breakout star for Basel last season, doing a bit of everything from left wing.

Like Tzolis, I think he’s more of a goal threat than a playmaker. He just made the Eze replacements newsletter because he was the only guy who hit our stat cutoffs, which he did in a relatively weak league. But I’d love to see Basel make Champions League so we get an opportunity to see what he can do against more difficult opposition.

Rodrigo Huescas, RB, FC Copenhagen

One for the CONCACAF head subscribers. Rodrigo Huescas had a solid debut year at Copenhagen after moving from Cruz Azul, and could establish himself in the Mexico side if he starts getting regular stars in Champions League. He’s known as an attacking right back who’s played an equal amount of winger in his career, but his stat profile makes him look surprisingly like a more standard, defensive FB.

But Huescas has some better looking dribbling numbers and 2 assists early in the Danish Superliga season, so there are some signs that he’s putting it all together.

Jhon Durán, ST, Fenerbahçe

Everyone’s favorite “unsustainable” xG overperformer continued to do the same thing after moving from Aston Villa to Al Nassr last winter. In a half-season in Saudi Arabia, Duran put up good shot numbers, and scored his goals in the funniest way possible. He missed 3 of his 4 biggest chances, and scored a bunch of low-xG chances while missing most of the medium ones too. I love this guy.

We’ve seen Duran put up numbers in weird places like Chicago and Riyadh, and come off the bench in the Premier League. Now we get to see an appropriate in-between, what he can do as a first choice starter for Fener.

Andreas Schjelderup, LW, Benfica

Previously featured in the newsletter “3 radars that make us go hell yeah,” Schjelderup was pointed out as a player who either needed to become first choice this season or go out on loan to pump his eventual sale value. He started Benfica’s first Portuguese Liga game. I think that’s a good decision.

His numbers were quite a bit worse in Europe vs. Portugal last year, but they were both tiny sample sizes. He’s been a highly regarded wonderkid for years now, but we don’t yet have a good sample at a high level to see what he’s capable of. I’m happy we’re likely to finally get it this year.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, we’d appreciate it if you would forward it to a friend. If you’re that friend, welcome! You can subscribe to The Transfer Flow here. We also have a podcast where we go in depth on transfer news and rumours every week. We’re on YouTube here, and you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify by searching for “The Transfer Flow Podcast.”