After another bumper summer in the busy transfer window, Birmingham City might well have expected to take the Championship immediately by storm.
Indeed, the Blues welcomed in a whopping 14 new faces during the off-season, as the likes of Demarai Gray dramatically returned back to St. Andrew’s after a lengthy Premier League career, among other notable signings.
Unfortunately for Chris Davies and Co., Gray hasn’t quite sparked into life just yet during his homecoming, with the ex-Everton winger not alone in being a disappointment so far, as the Blues loiter in an underwhelming 15th spot in the second-tier standings at this moment in time.
Birmingham's disappointing summer recruitment
It’s not just all on the shoulders of the new recruits, however, as many of Birmingham’s dependable performers during their League One title heroics have also floundered under the pressure of now competing in the division above.
Keshi Anderson definitely falls into his category, with the Luton-born attacker still goalless in Championship action this season so far, despite firing home nine strikes in all competitions last campaign for Davies’ emphatic title-winners.
Thankfully, Jay Stansfield has remembered his shooting boots, with six goals already fired home.
But, to further pile on the misery, Marvin Ducksch – who cost around the £1.75m mark to pick up from Werder Bremen in the window – is also routinely firing blanks as another option up top.
Moreover, the aforementioned Gray doesn’t quite look the same electric, fresh-faced presence he once was at St. Andrew’s when he was a youngster trying to cut his teeth, with Birmingham’s 1-0 defeat to Bristol City last time out only seeing him amass a lacklustre 18 touches of the ball.
It must feel like an awfully long time ago now for Davies when he looks back on Birmingham’s jaw-dropping 111-point season in League One, with one new signing under so much scrutiny already, that he could be on borrowed time in the West Midlands only a matter of months into his EFL stint.
Why Birmingham's expensive gamble hasn't paid off
Thankfully, in recent years, whenever a big price tag has been attached to a player since Tom Wagner’s millions were added into the mix, they have often lived up to their hype.
Stansfield was boldly purchased for a whopping £15m, even as Birmingham found themselves marooned in League One, but he immediately backed up his lavish price tag when scoring the crucial goals – 19 league strikes to be exact – to clinch the Blues’ straightforward passage back up to the Championship.
Therefore, when the newly promoted Blues announced they’d acquired the services of former Celtic star Kyogo Furuhashi for an equally hefty £10m in July, the expectation would have been that he would go on to be another superb Stansfield-like purchase.
After all, Kyogo had been branded as a “superstar” in Scotland by ex-Hoops teammate Callum McGregor, off the back of the Japanese gem firing home a stunning 85 goals in total for the Glasgow giants.
Moreover, Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman also boldly stated that he would be a “really exciting” signing in England, after the new number nine showed off some entertaining tricks and flicks during his early days at St. Andrew’s.
Games played
11
Games started
5
Minutes played per game
47
Goals scored
0
Assists
0
Big chances missed
7
Kyogo’s tale hasn’t played out to the expected script, though, with the once confident and assured striker who pulled on Celtic green and white week in week out now nowhere to be seen in the Championship.
The 30-year-old, instead, has become a wasteful option up top for Davies, with seven big chances missed across 11 league games to date, meaning he is still chasing his first league goal in the West Midlands.
Even Lyndon Dykes has two league goals next to his name, despite averaging just 25 minutes of action himself.
EFL pundit Adrian Clarke has even gone out of his way to state that Kyogo is “struggling”, with patience surely already running thin at St. Andrew’s surrounding the quiet number nine, considering his excessive transfer fee.
There is still time on Kyogo’s side to turn around his shocking Blues start, but if the goals don’t come soon, he might just have to be written off as an expensive flop.