How Birmingham City feel about Kyogo Furuhashi’s disappointing start amid ‘pressure’ claim

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Birmingham City’s Kyogo Furuhashi is waiting on his first league goal and EFL Analysis can exclusively reveal how the Blues feel about his start.

The former Celtic ace joined from Rennes for a reported £10million as one of the club’s marquee signings this summer.

He has excited Birmingham fans since joining, scoring in his second game against Sheffield United in Chris Davies’ side’s 2-1 win in the Carabao Cup first round. Fellow summer signing Demarai Gray provided the assist for him, with the Japanese star providing an expert finish to get off the mark for his new club.

Furuhashi has not found the net since, creating plenty but to no avail – but there is no pressure on him to turn his individual fortunes around despite questions around Birmingham’s move for him.

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Birmingham City pressure on all players, not just former Celtic ace Kyogo Furuhashi

When asked if Kyogo has disappointed the Birmingham City hierarchy, EFL Analysis’ chief football correspondent Graeme Bailey said: “Which Birmingham player has set the world alight though? Birmingham’s top scorer is on two goals?

“So, he’s got half the amount of the top scorer. Birmingham as a whole, I don’t think you could look at Kyogo and blame him. I think Demarai Gray has had a bit of a disappointing start to his return there. I think there are concerns about the whole situation.

“I mean there’s pressure on everyone. It’s not just Gray and Kyogo, there’s Jay Stansfield, [Tomoki] Iwata, [Bright] Osayi-Samuel – he came with a huge price tag on him. There’s an awful lot of pressure on all these players there, so really I wouldn’t single Kyogo out at all.

“The pressure is mounting, obviously they got a good win over Swansea last time, and it seems they’re sticking together. There’s not a massive concern or anything, it’s just there’s a big step up at this level from League One. I don’t really think there’s a massive issue with any of the players just yet, but as a collective they want more.”

A lack of goals has been the theme of Birmingham’s season so far, with them sitting bottom of the league for shots on target per match before their 1-0 victory over Swansea City via a Lyndon Dykes late goal on Saturday.

Kyogo Furuhashi’s stats show he will come good for Birmingham City

Furuhashi may not have scored since the Blades win but he does sit top of a number of Birmingham City Championship stats this season.

He has the highest xG of 2.1, better than Jay Stansfield’s 1.9. The same goes for expected non-penalty goals, with 2.1 above Stansfield’s 1.1.

It’s been highlighted that no striker has missed more big chances in the Championship than Furuhashi’s six this season.

However, the fact he creates more of those opportunities than the average striker thanks to his off ball movement should be taken into consideration. After missing out on a lot of game time at Rennes, he may well need a bit of time to dust his shooting boots off.