£17.5k-p/w Birmingham City man told to secure January transfer exit - he "wasn’t a Chris Davies signing" | OneFootball

FLW’s Birmingham City fan pundit has revealed who should be a priority exit from St Andrew’s during the January transfer window.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Despite mounting pressure on Chris Davies, Birmingham City have managed to turn results around in the last couple of weeks.

Davies’ future at St Andrew’s was being questioned due to a recent poor run of form, with the West Midlands outfit failing to win any of their previous five second-tier matches before welcoming table-toppers Coventry City in the opening week of January.

But then Blues produced a sensational performance to topple Frank Lampard’s men 3-2, while they were also victorious in the FA Cup third round against Cambridge United, a tie that could have been seen as a potential banana skin.

Now Birmingham return to league action this weekend, travelling to South Wales to take on Swansea City, with their away form in the Championship needing to improve rapidly.

Davies’ men have suffered three consecutive away defeats to Southampton, Queens Park Rangers and most recently Watford, with a positive result and performance needed to end what has been a miserable time on the road of late.

Birmingham currently sit seven points off the top six with 20 games remaining of the 2025-26 term, and the January transfer window could be a pivotal period to bolster the squad and help them push even further up the standings.

While incomings will be what Blues supporters care about the most, departures are also necessary for senior figures suffering from a lack of game-time, with this the last opportunity for players to play regularly for the remainder of the campaign.

With this in mind, FLW’s Birmingham City fan pundit has named one player who has to depart the club during the January transfer window, either on a loan or permanent deal.

Birmingham City fan pundit singles out Kanya Fujimoto as priority departure

Speaking to Football League World, Birmingham City fan pundit Jason Moore believes Kanya Fujimoto, has to be a priority departure for the club during the January transfer window, particularly as the Japanese midfielder has played just two minutes of Championship football all season.

Jason told FLW: “There’s probably a few that need to go to be fair.

“If I sit here and name one person who actively needs to go is Kanya Fujimoto, he hasn’t been given a chance and 100% has not made it under Chris Davies.

“He is the one. If he doesn’t go, he’s never going to get his career up and going again, so he’s the one, for the sake of his own career, never mind Blues pushing on or him not being good enough, just his career, he needs to go, and he needs to go somewhere a manager rates him.

“He clearly wasn’t a Chris Davies signing even though he gets a say on who comes in. He’s played 61 minutes worth of football the entire season, that’s shocking, so he’s the one 100% who has to go.

“A loan, full transfer, whatever it is, he needs to go and play football.”

Birmingham City must allow Kanya Fujimoto to leave and earn regular game-time

As our Birmingham City fan pundit Jason mentioned, Kanya Fujimoto has only played 61 minutes of football all season since joining in the summer, while his 14-minute substitute appearance against Cambridge United spoke volumes about what his future looks like under Chris Davies.

Meanwhile, just two minutes of game-time in the second-tier is a diabolical figure for an outfield first-team player, particularly someone who is a recent addition to the club, so he must be chomping at the bit to get away and push his career on an upwards trajectory.

With Davies having no plans to utilise him, you have to feel the club should consider a permanent exit already should the right offer come along, but if it doesn’t, then a loan deal should be the minimum they sanction in order for him to move away and be a valued member of another squad.

Blues will be eager to shift the majority, if not all of his estimated £17,500 a week salary, so it appears a move that will suit all parties should it get done.