Birmingham City bought Kyogo Furuhashi from Rennes in the summer, although he has had little influence this season.
Kyogo Furuhashi’s move to Birmingham City has gone ‘horribly wrong’.
This is according to EFL analyst Don Goodman, who confesses he thought the Blues had made a decent move when he first saw him play for the club.
That was at the start of the season, when Blues drew 1-1 with relegated Ipswich Town, a terrible result after an impressive performance.
Kyogo, who had arrived after a disappointing spell at Rennes but had previously been a goal machine at Celtic, felt he had opened his account early on when he found Jacob Greaves dallying and fired a magnificent lob over Alex Palmer.
However, referee Andrew Kitchen blew out, and Kyogo went on to score only three goals in 31 games, and he has not even played in the last month due to shoulder surgery that ended his season.
Goodman, a former Wolves and West Brom striker, told the Daily Record that their first game at St Andrew’s was against Ipswich Town, who were clearly the pre-season favourites to win the league.
“And they drew 1-1, with Ipswich taking a late penalty. However, Birmingham dominated them in terms of game performance.
“I’d already told my Birmingham City pals, and there are many of them, that they shouldn’t expect to be near the top of the table this season because they recently won League One. The Championship is a distinct mammal.
“And Ipswich were an exception rather than the rule when they advanced from League One to the Premier League the following season. It rarely happens that way.
“So Kyogo was fantastic on the night. I enjoyed his movements. He had a goal unfairly disallowed for a soft barge into the back of a defender. But after that, I thought, “Wow, they’re onto something here.”
“And, honestly, he started missing real golden opportunities in those first six, eight games, and you could gradually watch his confidence dwindle.
“In terms of value for money, the transfer has gone tragically wrong. This is quite surprising.I enjoy his movements. He’s energetic and swift. But, to be honest, he didn’t appear to be able to hit a barn door after a rough start.
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