Kyogo Furuhashi's Struggles at Birmingham: Is There Hope for Redemption?
When Birmingham City persuaded Kyogo Furuhashi to swap Celtic Park for St Andrew’s in the summer of 2025, it felt like a statement. Championship clubs do not often prise away a forward with 85 goals in 165 games for Celtic, a player hardened by Champions League nights and the pressure that comes with them. This was supposed to be a coup, the kind that drags a promoted side up a level.
On paper, it made sense. In theory, he would glide into the second tier, adjust to the tempo, and strike up a ruthless partnership with Jay Stansfield. A clever runner, relentless presser, proven finisher – the blueprint for a modern Championship No.9.
The reality could hardly have been more different.
Kyogo never really got going. At 31, he arrived with expectation, but his Birmingham career stumbled out of the blocks. The early chances came, the goals did not. Confidence – that fragile currency for any striker – drained away almost before it had been banked.
He finished the league campaign with just one goal to his name, his season cut short by surgery on a long-standing shoulder problem. For a player who once looked automatic in front of goal, the contrast was stark.
Former Blues midfielder Clinton Morrison has watched the unraveling with a mix of disbelief and frustration. Speaking to GOAL in association with Freebets.com, he admitted he cannot quite square the Kyogo he saw at Celtic with the one struggling in royal blue.
“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,” Morrison said. At Birmingham, the movement remained. The opportunities still arrived. The net, though, stayed stubbornly untouched.
“He was getting the chances at Birmingham City but just wasn't putting them in, and that can happen. 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 last line cuts to the heart of it. Rushing. A split-second too eager, a touch too heavy, a finish snatched rather than placed. For a striker, those tiny margins can define an entire season.
Morrison is convinced the story could have been different had Kyogo landed running.
“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 becoming the talisman, Kyogo has become a problem to solve. A high earner, a marquee signing whose impact has been minimal, and a player now at the centre of exit talk.
“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’.”
That dilemma sits at the core of Birmingham’s summer planning. The evidence from Scotland says Kyogo can score – and score heavily. The evidence from England, so far, says something very different.
“He scored goals in the Scottish Premiership, so it's a difficult one. 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.”
Morrison is not alone in his surprise. EFL pundit Don Goodman has tracked Kyogo closely and still struggles to reconcile the reputation with the return.
“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 when reflecting on a deal that promised so much and delivered so little.
The numbers behind the transfer only sharpen the sense of disappointment.
“In terms of value for money, it's gone horribly wrong with regard to that particular transfer. 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.”
That image – a striker who suddenly cannot hit anything – is brutal, but it matches the eye test. The runs were there, the energy too. The finish, the one thing Birmingham paid for, deserted him.
So where does that leave Kyogo now? On one side, a club with resources, ambition, and a willingness to reset if a big signing misfires. On the other, a forward whose career in Europe has already shown he can be devastating when rhythm and confidence align.
Birmingham must decide whether this season was a blip or a warning. Kyogo must decide whether he has one more reinvention in him.
For a player once feared in Glasgow, the next move might define how he is remembered in England: an expensive misstep, or a slow-burn story that finally catches fire.
