Birmingham City have completed the signing of Japan international Kyōgo Furuhashi from Stade Rennais for an undisclosed fee.
The 30-year-old joined Rennes in January and leaves having made just six goalless appearances in his short stint at the club.
Before this, Kyōgo spent four seasons in Scotland, playing for Celtic, the reigning champions of the Scottish Championship.
There, he found his best form, scoring 85 times in 165 appearances.
Just last season, Kyōgo was linked with Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola apparently being a heavy advocate of the move.
Instead, Chris Davies will be tasked with bringing the exciting forward back to form.
This scout report and player analysis will examine what Kyōgo could bring to the Blues this season, considering his strengths and weaknesses and how he suits the Birmingham City style of play.
Kyōgo Furuhashi Style Of Play
Kyōgo typically plays as a centre-forward, but can also be used behind the striker or off the left.
Kyōgo is a relatively small but agile forward, standing at 1.70m.
The pizza chart below summarises his profile, showing his strengths and weaknesses based on data from the 2023/2024 season with Celtic.
Kyōgo Furuhashi Pizza Chart 2023/2024
Kyōgo Furuhashi Movement
Kyōgo has exceptional movement and regularly makes runs that defenders cannot anticipate.
He often bursts into life from relatively benign locations, drifting behind the opposition zones into vacant areas.
His ability to read a play, understand it, and make the right movements is arguably his biggest weapon and what sets him apart from other targets in his position.
The clip below shows one aspect of his ability to read a play and create a dangerous passage with his run.
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) July 8, 2025
As shown in the clip, Kyōgo makes a simple pass inside, but even before the pass is played, he has already spotted space and planned his movement in behind.
This catches the defenders off guard, creating an opportunity that leads to a goal.
Another way that his understanding of the game and positioning help him is in the penalty area.
Many of Kyōgo’s goals come from within 18 yards, and this is due to his knowledge of where the ball drops, positioning and his exceptional anticipation.
As seen below, he is intelligent enough to allow the ball to come to him, waiting in a dangerous zone rather than chasing it as many modern strikers do.
So many of his goals are scored from this type of zone.
His movement makes him a genuine nightmare to mark, and will undoubtedly scare EFL defenders.
Kyōgo Furuhashi Decision-Making
As he is with his movement, Kyōgo is also very clever and calculated with his decision-making.
As a potential opportunity arises, Kyōgo can be seen scanning the area around him repeatedly.
This lets him see where spaces are, where his teammates are, and how the opposition is marking them.
Therefore, when the ball arrives at his feet, he has already generated an image of the best next option.
Once he has decided upon his option, he is very patient and waits for the perfect opportunity to execute the action with the best chance of success.
The clip below is an excellent example of this.
Kyōgo realises his teammate has a better potential to score than he does.
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) July 8, 2025
However, rather than passing instantly, he delays the pass.
By doing so, he draws the opposite defender away, meaning the pass receiver, in this case Jota, has much more time and space when he collects possession.
Kyōgo is not a natural passer, like Kevin De Bruyne, but the attributes discussed still allow him to contribute with progressive and dangerous passes.
As the pizza chart earlier in the article shows, in the 2023/2024 season, Kyōgo ranked very high for dangerous passes, despite being low for passing accuracy and the number of passes made.
This aspect of his game is more prominent when played deeper.
When playing as a left winger, he averages 0.22 assists per game, which drops to 0.16 when playing as a centre forward.
Kyōgo Furuhashi Clinical Finishing
Kyōgo is very confident in the final third, which shows in his finishing.
From the 2021/2022 season to the end of the 2023/2024 season, Kyōgo accumulated 65.07 expected goals in all competitions.
He overperformed this by nearly 10, finishing with 75 goals over the three-year span.
These averages also hold true throughout his entire career.
He scored a hugely impressive 158 goals from just 132.23 expected goals.
He has a strong range of finishes in his arsenal, the technical skills to be accurate and precise, and the power to score from distance.
Below is an example of a powerful finish, firing the ball into the roof of the net.
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) July 8, 2025
Another example here shows his ability to use his weak foot, finishing accurately into the far corner.
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) July 8, 2025
His ability to finish and utilise creativity around the penalty area reminds us of Javier Hernandez, also known as Chicharito, the former Manchester United cult hero.
Both have physical limitations compared to other top strikers, but they have a ‘fox in the box’-like nature, combined with world-class finishing ability.
Kyōgo is also similar to this forward in his ability to score headers.
Despite being a relatively small forward at 1.7m, Kyōgo has scored a solid 19 headed goals as of today.
Much like Chicharito, Kyōgo utilises his smaller presence to slip into dangerous zones, often finding unmarked spaces.
Rather than relying on physicality or height, both of these players utilised their craftiness to position themselves in dangerous areas and their accuracy and guile to convert chances.
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) July 8, 2025
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) July 8, 2025
The two goals above highlight these similarities.
Both drift unmarked towards the back post, before finishing with accuracy and finesse.
Kyōgo Furuhashi Importance To Promotion 2025/2026
This talent for goalscoring could be massive for Birmingham next season.
As they head into the Championship, the quality difference between them and other sides will become much smaller than in League One.
Games are often decided by a single goal when this happens, meaning the odd goal often determines the outcome.
Having a finisher like Kyōgo, who can score a goal from nothing, much like Chicharito, could be pivotal in winning tightly fought contests and ensuring they win even when not at their best.
He has already scored 46 of these match-winners in his career, helping Celtic win four titles in a row in his time at the club.
Kyōgo Furuhashi Pressing
Despite being an incredibly gifted technical forward, Kyōgo attempts to be equally as effective out of possession.
He presses intensely and looks to re-gather the ball as soon as instructed to do so.
He acts as a true team member and embodies the ‘defend from the front’ mindset.
He is unequivocally not naturally built to compete in duels; however, he does not allow this to inhibit his ability to be a nuisance.
Kyōgo acknowledges that, with his small stature, he will not be physically dominant. Instead, he uses his agility and energy to harass the opposition, giving them no time to make decisions.
Because of this, Kyōgo has averaged 2.69 recoveries in the opposition half and completed 1.82 interceptions per 90 over the span of his career.
Suitability To Birmingham City 2025/2026
Our article ‘Chris Davies Tactics At Birmingham City 2024/2025‘ provides more detail on Birmingham City’s style of play under Chris Davies management, and covers the intricacies and nuances any football expert may appreciate.
However, we will provide a shorter summary in this analysis.
Chris Davies style of play focuses on the following principles:
- High pressing, quick recoveries.
- Possession-dominant football.
- Final third freedom.
- Rotation and flexible movements between attackers.
The principles all focus on having fundamental control over the game without sacrificing fluidity and attacking threat.
For example, the high pressing quick recovery is used to ensure the opposition are not able to dictate the tempo of the game.
The graph below illustrates this, showing how Birmingham regains possession compared to the rest of League One.
Based on these principles, we believe Kyōgo could be an exceptional fit for Birmingham City in 2025/2026.
The style of play will give the Japanese forward the final third of freedom of movement he thrives in and will also effectively utilise his off-the-ball contributions.
In some ways, Chris Davies’ Birmingham City will share similarities with Ange Postecoglou‘s Celtic.
In the 2023/2024 season, Celtic averaged 69% possession. Last season, Birmingham averaged 67%.
Celtic averaged a league-high 6.2 possessions won in the final third per 90, while Birmingham averaged 4.6, also a league-high.
Both sides sought to control the game through high possession and quick recoveries, while remaining progressive and attacking.
Both Celtic and Birmingham were the top scorers in their respective leagues.
Birmingham City Shape & Kyōgo Role In The Starting XI 2025/2026
In terms of shape, last season, Birmingham typically set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
This would then transition into a 3-4-2-1 possession formation, creating a triangle in attack, as shown below.
We believe Kyōgo will be played between the striker and central attacking midfield role next season.
This system encourages flexibility and versatility, allowing him to play any of the aforementioned positions.
For example, Alfie May and Jay Stansfield sometimes started together last season, rotating when possible.
This was not always successful, but the attempt shows Davies’ eagerness to allow flexibility up front and involve as many attacking players as possible in the starting eleven.
Kyōgo could even sometimes play off the left.
For Kyōgo to thrive, he must be allowed to enter central, dangerous zones and move freely; however, this Birmingham system should allow this regardless of whether he plays as a front-man or just behind Jay Stansfield.
Conclusion
Every transfer comes with risk.
There are too many elements out of the club’s control that can go wrong.
However, on paper, this move appears to be a match made in heaven for both parties.
Birmingham gets a player with great pedigree, who has scored goals in the Champions League, and has also won numerous trophies in a competitive league.
Kyōgo gets to play back in his preferred style, under a manager who will allow him to play with freedom and intent.
This signing has all of the makings of being a season-changing addition, and it may be one we look back at wondering how the Championship newcomers managed to sign such a talent uncontested.
