Birmingham City’s season is now on the verge of fading out in the early stages of the run-in, with supporters becoming increasingly frustrated as a result.
Whilst a stabilising season back in the Championship after being promoted from League One is, most of the time, considered successful, sky-high expectations at St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park have meant that Bluenoses are feeling a sense of disappointment when looking at the millions of pounds invested by the club’s American owners.
Indeed, after breaking their club record and the third tier’s overall transfer spending last season before collecting 111 points, Birmingham signalled their ambition for the current campaign very early in the summer transfer window with a wave of statement signings.
Although not all of those proved successful, with the likes of Eiran Cashin and Lewis Koumas seeing their loan agreements from Brighton and Hove Albion and Liverpool terminated in the winter transfer window, Chris Davies was, once again, backed heavily when it came to overseeing another squad revamp.
As well as turning star performer Patrick Roberts’ loan move from Sunderland permanent, six new arrivals moved to B9, which included a combined £13m spent on August Priske and Carlos Vicente from Djurgardens IF and Deportivo Alaves, with both choosing the club’s well-documented ‘project’ instead of joining top European sides.
However, with 10 games remaining, Blues are sitting seven points behind sixth place, whilst Wrexham and Southampton both have matches in hand, meaning another rebuild appears likely in the summer window in order for a sustained promotion push to be mounted next season.
And, it is increasingly probable that this involves the departure of Kyogo Furuhashi, who, once again, could become the subject of reunion speculation with Celtic.
Chris Davies’ latest Kyogo Furuhashi, Birmingham City absence admission only increases departure talk:
After a goal-filled and trophy-laden spell at Celtic between July 2021 and January 2025, it was expected that Kyogo would leave behind an underwhelming six-month stint with Stade Rennais and become an immediate source of goals for Blues in their objectives for the campaign.
However, less than a year after the club secured a deal worth up to £10m on a three-year contract for the 23-time Japanese international, it is looking more and more likely that an exit is on the horizon rather than the chances of him staying and proving the understandable sceptics wrong.
Furuhashi has scored just three times in 29 appearances across all competitions for Blues, with the last of those coming against Sheffield Wednesday on January 20th — the day the aforementioned Priske’s move from Scandinavia was confirmed.
The striker hasn’t featured since a nine-minute cameo against Stoke City on January 24th, with an initial absence being revealed as an injury issue, before Davies delivered his latest revelation on the 31-year-old after being quizzed on his omission from Saturday’s damaging 1-0 defeat to Charlton Athletic.
“That’s just a selection,” stated Davies.
Such a bombshell comes after the Blues boss spoke about the possibility of an exit for Kyogo to an MLS side, with the division’s transfer window open until March 26th.
As such, it cannot be ruled out that Kyogo may follow in the footsteps of Josh Sargent, who finally completed a move from Norwich City to Toronto FC a matter of days ago.
However, neither can a sentimental return to Parkhead.
Celtic FC could launch fresh Kyogo Furuhashi reunion bid in the summer
At various stages of the season, Davies had done his utmost to support Kyogo despite a series of missed chances in key encounters.
One of those instances came in January, when the striker became the subject of shock reunion speculation with Celtic, who have been under the interim management of Martin O’Neill twice this term, either side of Wilfried Nancy’s disastrous spell which followed Brendan Rodgers’ exit in October.
However, the ex-Aston Villa boss dismissed such rumours, whilst it was also reported that the forward’s weekly wage of £40,000 per week in B9 could be a potential stumbling block for the Hoops.
As such, there is still a chance that a reunion could be on the cards in the summer, although it depends on whether the Glasgow club are willing to meet the fee which Blues would consider acceptable after their big-money, yet unsuccessful transfer.
Taking sentiment away from the deal, it also remains to be seen whether Celtic would see Kyogo as the solution to their current issues, as it is clear how much he has lacked confidence over a 14-month period.