Kyogo Furuhashi’s difficult spell away from Celtic has taken another frustrating turn after the Japanese forward picked up a fresh injury setback, with his Birmingham City future still uncertain before the season is out.
Celtic explored the possibility of bringing Kyogo back during the January window as they looked to bolster their attacking options.
The club instead moved to land Junior Adamu and Tomáš Čvančara, both of whom have already made an impact with goals, and Kyogo ultimately remained in England.
The 30-year-old was keen to stay put at Birmingham City, determined to fight his way back into the picture at St Andrew’s.
For a brief moment, it looked like that decision might pay off when he scored his first league goal for the club on his birthday against Sheffield United.
However, that goal remains his only return, and momentum has again stalled. Kyogo has since slipped down the pecking order and is now viewed as a fourth-choice striking option. With that in mind, speculation has grown around a possible move elsewhere, particularly with the Major League Soccer window still open, along with markets in other countries.
Those rumours have been fuelled further by Birmingham boss Chris Davies, who confirmed Kyogo has suffered another knock while stopping short of completely ruling out a potential exit.
“He’s picked up a knock which has set him back again,” Davies told the Birmingham Mail. “It’s just been a challenging time.
“There’s been talk of that (Kyogo leaving for MLS). From my point of view, this is our squad and this is how it stays. If something there comes up that has to be looked at then obviously we will respect the player and everything else, as we do in open transfer window time.
“In my mind we’ve got our squad, there’s 14 games to go and we go for it from here.
“As a coach and a manager, you need to have empathy to be good at the job,” he added. “You’ve got to see how hard it is for players and the most precious thing for them is game time. I’m fully aware when I’m not giving them enough and I always try to communicate.”
