Birmingham City receive Kyogo Furuhashi transfer instruction after Celtic snub

Kyogo Furuhashi scored his only Championship goal for Birmingham City against Sheffield Wednesday in January

Kevin Phillips has told Birmingham City to offload misfiring striker Kyogo Furuhashi in the summer transfer window.

Blues’ acquisition of Kyogo was one of the Championship’s most eye-catching deals last summer and they paid a pretty penny to get him out of Rennes.

But Kyogo didn’t reproduce his scintillating Celtic form in his first season at St Andrew’s.

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The 31-year-old striker missed chance after chance in Royal Blue and ended the season with one Championship goal to his name – three goals in 31 appearances across all competitions including cup strikes against Sheffield United and Cambridge.

A return to Celtic was on the table for Kyogo in January but the Japan striker rejected it in favour of proving himself with Blues.

Now, with Kyogo well down the pecking order under manager Chris Davies, ex-Blues striker Phillips – who was part of the last Blues team to earn promotion to the Premier League – believes it’s time to part ways.

“I know the fans like him, but ultimately, in terms of goals and assists, it just hasn’t been there, and he got one goal in all his appearances for Birmingham,” Phillips told Best Betting Sites. “So it hasn’t quite worked out. And it’s not like it’s only been over a few games, it’s been over a good while.

“So I think probably for both parties, if I were Birmingham, I’d be looking to move him on, whether he goes back to Celtic or not or moves somewhere else.

“And try to bring in someone, maybe a little bit younger than him, who potentially could be an asset for the football club. So I certainly think it hadn’t quite worked out for him, so I would be looking to move him on, to be honest.”