Champions League: Mbappe, Bellingham among players to watch this season

The Champions League returns this week, and this time you’ll be able to watch highlights on the BBC.

From 10pm on Wednesday Champions League matchweeks, there will be match-by-match highlights available on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, plus a special Champions League match of the day on BBC One at 22:40.

To get everyone in the mood, BBC Sport have selected 25 non-Premier League players to watch this season, ranging from the very obvious to some talented youngsters.

Striker Mbappe only needs to score twice to break into the top 10 European Cup scorers ever this season. But he has yet to lift the trophy.

His move from Paris St-Germain to perennial European champions Real Madrid means this could be his year.

Midfielder Bellingham exceeded all expectations last season, scoring 23 goals in all competitions as Real Madrid won the Champions League and La Liga.

But the goals dried up a bit after Christmas and, two huge goals aside, his Euro 2024 performances for England were underwhelming.

Can he make an impact in the Champions League this season?

The world’s most exciting youngster. The winger made a name for himself at Barcelona last season, breaking several records at the age of 16.

But he became a global phenomenon at Euro 2024 and helped Spain lift the trophy.

Can he live up to the hype this season? He already has three goals in La Liga.

Another of Spain’s European Championship stars, the attacking midfielder is playing senior football for a Spanish club for the first time.

Barca’s summer signing from Leipzig scored in his first three games for the club but will be out for the next four to five weeks after suffering a hamstring injury. He could be back in time for Barcelona’s Champions League game against Bayern Munich on October 23.

Striker Kane begins his annual quest for a maiden trophy once again.

Last season he scored a sensational 44 goals for Bayern but they failed to win silverware for the first time in more than a decade.

Could that change under former Burnley boss Vincent Kompany?

Another Londoner at Bayern, although Olise made his senior debut for France in this month’s Nations League fixtures.

The winger, a big summer signing from Crystal Palace, is hoping to impress in his first season playing in Europe.

The versatile attacking midfielder is back in Leipzig on loan from Paris St-Germain for the second consecutive season.

He scored 10 goals and registered 15 assists in 43 games last season – and will look to improve this time around.

Norway’s latest underdog, winger Nusa, joined Leipzig from Club Brugge last summer – despite being targeted by Chelsea, Tottenham and Brentford.

He has already scored twice for his new club, taking him halfway to his best goalscoring season already.

Forward Alvarez has already scored eight Champions League goals and won the trophy – but this will be his first season as the main man of a team.

Atletico Madrid expect him to deliver after paying £81.5m to sign him from Manchester City.

Midfielder Gallagher finally completed his on-off move to Atletico Madrid from Chelsea – and seems to have settled down.

His energy and drive could see him become a favorite of Atleti boss Diego Simeone.

Defensive midfielder Neves joined PSG from Benfica for a fee of at least £50m, in one of the biggest signings of the summer.

He has already played 75 first-team games for Benfica, four for PSG and won 11 caps for Portugal, despite still being a teenager.

Another big-money teenager to join PSG this summer – they paid £42m to sign Rennes attacking midfielder Doue.

Tottenham and Bayern Munich had also wanted the exciting youngster, who can play on the edge or centrally.

Gyokeres are considered one of the most lethal strikers in Europe, despite yet to play in one of the top leagues.

He has played in the second division in Sweden, Germany and England – for Swansea and Coventry – and has scored 51 goals in 56 games for Sporting.

This will be his first season in the Champions League.

Winger Lookman has become a new man since joining Atalanta in 2022, scoring 33 goals in just over two years – including a hat-trick in the Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen.

The London-born player had failed to hit double figures in either of his seasons in England and will be hoping to add to the 61 minutes of Champions League experience he had in Leipzig.

New England international Gomes remains Manchester United’s youngest Premier League player, having made his debut aged 16 in 2017.

But it is at Lille where the versatile midfielder has made his name, notching a Ligue 1-high eight assists last season.

The talented midfielder turned down the chance to move to Juventus and Napoli earlier this year to stay with Shakhtar Donetsk, despite the continued invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Sudakov will be aiming for another good Champions League campaign, having netted against Barcelona last season.

Celtic have spent big this summer with a club record £11million move for midfielder Engels, who made his debut in Belgium earlier this month.

He was a regular for Augsburg in the Bundesliga last season in a variety of positions, including all over midfield and at right-back.

Florian Wirtz has been on the scene for years but is still only 21. He has spent his senior career so far with Bayer Leverkusen and, with their German double victory last season, the clamor for him to go on to win trophies may die down.

Twelve of his 44 Leverkusen goals have come in the Europa League, but this is his first season in Europe’s top competition.

Frimpong excelled last season at right-back in Xabi Alonso’s almost unstoppable Leverkusen team.

He scored 14 goals and had a further 12 assists in all competitions. Can he take the Champions League by storm?

The diminutive midfielder, likely to be dubbed the next Luka Modric, has been linked with Juventus and Arsenal but remains at Dinamo Zagreb for now.

Part of Croatia’s Euro 2024 squad, this is his second season in the Champions League group stage after 2022-23.

Striker Guirassy joined Borussia Dortmund for what could prove to be a £15m bargain this summer, after a breakout season for Stuttgart ended with him scoring 28 goals in 28 Bundesliga games – at the age of 28.

He was unlucky not to win a Golden Boot, with Bundesliga rival Kane the only player to score more goals in Europe’s top five leagues.

This is his second season in the Champions League following the 2020-21 campaign with Rennes – when he scored a goal against Chelsea.

Ukraine goalkeeper Trubin enters his fifth season in the Champions League with Shakhtar Donetsk and Benfica – not bad for a 23-year-old.

He has already made 37 appearances in Europe, including the Europa League and qualifiers.

England under-20 midfielder Clark was one of Jurgen Klopp’s so-called children at Liverpool last season and played 12 times. He became their youngest ever European goalscorer with a Europa League goal against Sparta Prague.

He hopes to get much more playing time this season following a £10m move to Austria to play for Salzburg, who are managed by ex-Liverpool assistant Pep Lijnders.

One of Turkey’s exciting young talents at Euro 2024, attacking midfielder Yildiz is hoping to make his Champions League debut this season.

He played 32 times for Juventus last season and scored four goals.

The Belgian winger scored 14 goals and grabbed 14 assists for Dutch champions PSV in all competitions last season.

There is no doubting his ambition – he says he wants to challenge for the Ballon d’Or within five years.