Manchester City players want their new signings to give them a confidence boost for the second half of the season.

Pep Guardiola does not like doing business in the January window and the club have had to fork out £120m to land Vitor Reis, Abdukodir Khusanov and Omar Marmoush so far this month. The latter two started against Chelsea, with Khusanov enduring a horrible opening five minutes of the game before showing character to recover and find his composure.

Haaland knows better than most about what is expected of winter arrivals after signing for Dortmund in the middle of their season, and was impressed with how his new teammates started in the win over Chelsea. While the No.9 led from the front with a matchwinning goal, there were signs of promise from both new men despite a shaky opening.

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City are low on belief after the struggles they have had on the pitch since the end of October, and their fragile state was exposed by another collapse last week as Paris Saint-Germain came from two goals down to claim a crucial Champions League victory. As much as the new signings are for the long term, the rest of the squad need them to help provide instant stability.

“They have to come in with energy and their qualities. They have to help the team to get better to be more confident. That’s what you have to do [as a new signing],” said Haaland after the Chelsea game.

All three signings are ineligible for the game with Club Brugge on Wednesday but will all be in contention for the Premier League game at Arsenal on Sunday, when Guardiola will be looking for his team to show more evidence that they can reach a top-four finish.