Kyogo Furuhashi's Struggles at Birmingham City: Can He Redeem Himself?

When Birmingham City persuaded Kyogo Furuhashi to swap Celtic Park for St Andrew’s in the summer of 2025, it felt like a statement. Eighty-five goals in 165 games for Celtic. Champions League minutes in his legs. A relentless presser with sharp movement and a reputation for ruthless finishing. For a newly promoted Championship side, this was supposed to be a coup.

He was meant to light up the division, to dovetail with Jay Stansfield and give Birmingham a frontline to frighten the league. Instead, the move has unravelled into one of the Championship’s more baffling misfires.

From Glasgow hero to St Andrew’s struggle

The plan looked simple enough. Drop a proven scorer from Scotland’s top flight into England’s second tier, surround him with energy, and let instinct take over. The reality was brutal.

Kyogo never got going. At 31, he arrived with pedigree, but his Birmingham career stumbled almost from the first whistle. Those early weeks, when strikers usually build rhythm and trust, passed him by. He snatched at chances, mistimed runs, and the goals that once came so naturally simply wouldn’t fall.

One league goal. That’s all he managed before a long-standing shoulder problem finally forced him into surgery and cut his season short. No momentum, no platform, no redemption arc.

For a player who had terrorised defences in Scotland, it felt almost surreal.

“I can’t believe why it’s not working”

Former Birmingham favourite Clinton Morrison has watched the collapse of confidence with a mixture of disbelief and frustration.

“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.

At St Andrew’s, the chances were there. That’s what troubles those who have followed his career. This wasn’t a striker starved of service or isolated in a system that didn’t suit him. The openings arrived, but the finish deserted him.

“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 last line cuts to the heart of it. Kyogo built his name on composure and clever movement. In Birmingham blue, he looked rushed, almost anxious, as if every missed chance added another weight to his shoulders.

A season that never really started

Morrison is convinced the story might have been very different had those first few weeks 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.”

Strikers live on streaks. One goes in off the shin, another via a deflection, and suddenly everything looks easier. Kyogo never found that spark. The difficult start hardened into a narrative, and the narrative became a burden.

Then came the shoulder. A long-term issue finally addressed, but at the cost of his season. Any hope of playing his way out of trouble vanished on the operating table.

Value for money – and a harsh verdict

In the Championship, big-money mistakes are unforgiving. Budgets are tight, margins even tighter. When a marquee signing fails, the ripple effect hits recruitment plans and wage structures.

EFL pundit Don Goodman has seen enough of Kyogo over the years to know what he can do. Which is why his assessment of the Birmingham spell is so stark.

“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.

“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.”

It’s a brutal image, but one that chimes with what Birmingham fans witnessed: the same runs, the same work rate, but a completely different outcome in front of goal.

Stick or twist?

Now comes the decision. Birmingham have a high earner who has not delivered, but whose CV still carries weight. Do they cut their losses, or gamble on a revival?

Morrison sees both sides of the argument.

“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,” he said. “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’.”

The logic is clear. If Kyogo rediscovers even a fraction of his Celtic form, Birmingham suddenly have a ready-made goalscorer without dipping back into the market. If he doesn’t, they carry an expensive passenger for another year.

“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.”

That last line is telling. Birmingham are no longer a club forced to cling to every asset. They can reshape quickly. Sentiment rarely survives long in that environment.

One last chance?

So where does that leave Kyogo? A proven finisher whose first English adventure has, so far, been defined by hesitation and bad timing.

The shoulder surgery offers one sliver of optimism. If that long-standing problem was undermining him more than anyone realised, a fully fit pre-season might change the picture. Confidence can return. Strikers have rewritten careers at 31 before.

But the Championship is ruthless, and Birmingham’s ambitions will not pause for a redemption story. The club must decide whether Kyogo is part of their climb or a costly detour.

For a forward who once made scoring look effortless, the next few months may be the hardest test of all: convincing Birmingham City that there is still a killer inside the No. 9 shirt.