Kyogo Furuhashi's Birmingham Gamble Turns Sour

When Birmingham City prised Kyogo Furuhashi away from Celtic in the summer of 2025, it felt like a statement. A proven goalscorer with 85 goals in 165 games for the Glasgow giants, Champions League minutes in his legs, and a reputation for relentless movement – this was the kind of signing Championship newcomers rarely pull off.

He was supposed to light up St Andrew’s. He was supposed to dovetail with Jay Stansfield and give Birmingham a front line to fear.

It never caught fire.

The Japanese forward’s season barely got going. At 31, he arrived with pedigree and expectation, but he stumbled out of the blocks. Those first few weeks, when strikers live or die on early rhythm, brought no surge of momentum, no run of goals to settle him into English second-tier life. One league goal, a crisis of confidence and, eventually, shoulder surgery that cut his campaign short – the dream quickly turned into a problem Birmingham now have to solve.

Former Blues midfielder Curtis Morrison admits he is baffled by the collapse.

“I can't believe why it's not working because at Celtic his movement and the chances and the goals he was scoring were fantastic,” he told GOAL in association with Freebets.com.

At Parkhead, Kyogo’s darting runs and sharp finishes made him a constant menace. In the Championship, the same traits were meant to translate into a ready-made No.9.

The chances were there. The net wasn’t.

“He was getting the chances at Birmingham City but just wasn't putting them in, and that can happen,” Morrison said. “That's just a player short on confidence and it hasn't really worked out. His work rate's fantastic but you've got to have a bit more than work rate when you're a number nine. You need to score goals and he was getting opportunities and he was just rushing at them.”

That rush became the story of his season. Big moments arrived, he snatched at them, and with every miss the weight on his shoulders grew heavier.

Morrison is convinced that a different start might have rewritten the whole script. “I think if he had started there in his first few games and started scoring a lot of goals as a centre-forward, his confidence would have just gone back through the roof and he would have scored a lot of goals, but he hasn't been anywhere near it.”

Instead of being the spearhead, Kyogo has become a question mark on the wage bill.

“That's a player they could move on because he's on big money and they try to see if they can get some money for him,” Morrison added. “Or do they stick with him and say, ‘this season could be your season and we don't have to spend money because he should be scoring goals in the Championship’.”

That is the dilemma. On one hand, a high earner who has not delivered. On the other, a forward with a proven scoring record in the Scottish Premiership and the tools, on paper, to hurt Championship defences if his confidence ever returns.

“He scored goals in the Scottish Premiership, so it's a difficult one,” Morrison said. “I hope he stays and I hope next season is his season, but you never know at Birmingham City because they have money - they can bring in players and move players on.”

He is not alone in his assessment. EFL pundit Don Goodman has watched Kyogo closely and saw the spiral begin almost as soon as the ink dried on his contract.

“He started missing real gilt-edge chances in those first six, eight games and you could slowly but surely just see the confidence drain away from him,” Goodman told GOAL. For a striker, those early sitters matter. Put them away and you ride the wave. Miss them and every touch starts to feel heavy.

“In terms of value for money, it's gone horribly wrong with regard to that particular transfer,” Goodman said. “And it's surprising, really. I like his movement. He's energetic, he's quick. But he didn't look like he could hit a barn door, if I'm honest with you, after a difficult start.”

So Birmingham stand at a crossroads. Do they cut their losses on a marquee signing who never settled, or gamble that a fully fit, reset Kyogo can finally become the ruthless finisher they thought they were buying?

For a club with money to spend and ambitions to climb, that decision will say plenty about how ruthless they are prepared to be.