Kyogo’s Birmingham Gamble: Can He Bounce Back?

When Birmingham City landed Kyogo Furuhashi in the summer of 2025, it felt like a statement. A forward with 85 goals in 165 games for Celtic, Champions League minutes in his legs and a reputation for razor-sharp movement does not usually drop into the Championship without a fight.

On paper, it was a coup. On grass, it never got off the ground.

The plan was simple enough: Kyogo to bring the goals, Jay Stansfield to bring the chaos, and St Andrew’s to become a hostile arena for visiting defences. Instead, the 31-year-old never found rhythm, never found conviction and, crucially, never found the net with any regularity. One league goal. A season cut short by shoulder surgery. A dream signing that quickly turned into a problem to solve.

From Celtic talisman to Championship doubt

At Celtic, Kyogo thrived on instinct. His movement shredded defensive lines, his finishing looked almost automatic. The numbers backed it up: 85 goals, a constant threat, a player who seemed to live in the right place at the right time.

Birmingham expected the same player. The same menace. The same ruthless edge.

What they got instead was a striker who stumbled out of the blocks and never truly recovered. Early misses bled into self-doubt. Self-doubt bled into hesitation. Confidence, that fragile currency for any number nine, evaporated before it had a chance to build.

Former Blues midfielder Curtis Morrison has watched the slide with disbelief.

“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, speaking in association with Freebets.com.

The chances were there. That’s what stings. Birmingham created for him; Kyogo just didn’t finish. The technique hadn’t vanished, the work rate certainly hadn’t. But the calm, clinical edge in front of goal? Gone.

“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.”

Those first few weeks in a new league can define a season. For Kyogo, they did – just in the worst possible way.

The cruel weight of a slow start

Strikers live off streaks. One scruffy finish can open the floodgates. One bad run can close them.

Morrison is convinced that the story could have been very different if the opening chapter had gone another way.

“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 a talisman, Birmingham ended up with a dilemma. A big earner, low output, and a fanbase wondering how a proven finisher from Scotland could look so blunt in England’s second tier.

EFL pundit Don Goodman has seen plenty of Kyogo over the years. He watched the unravelling in real time.

“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.

That’s the image that lingers: a forward still making the runs, still buzzing around defences, but looking lost when the ball arrived at his feet in the box.

“In terms of value for money, it's gone horribly wrong with regard to that particular transfer,” Goodman added. “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.”

Big wages, big decision

Now comes the hard part for Birmingham. What next?

Kyogo’s season ended on the treatment table after surgery on a long-standing shoulder issue, and with it came a natural pause. A reset point. But also a financial question.

“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 admitted. “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’.”

This is not a straightforward call. On one side: age, wages, and a debut campaign that yielded a single league goal. On the other: a track record of scoring in the Scottish Premiership and the nagging sense that a fully fit, fully confident Kyogo might yet justify the gamble.

“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.”

That last line matters. Birmingham are not trapped. They can cut their losses, reshape the attack, and move on from an experiment that misfired.

But if they do, they risk watching a proven finisher rediscover himself somewhere else.

So the club stands at a fork in the road. Cash in and close the chapter on a deal that “went horribly wrong”, as Goodman put it, or double down on a player whose reputation says one thing and whose first year in the Championship screamed another.

Kyogo’s next move – and Birmingham’s verdict on him – will say plenty about how ruthless this new era at St Andrew’s really intends to be.