Birmingham City: £17.5k-a-week man must search for January exit after new Blues development | OneFootball

Kanya Fujimoto's Blues career is still yet to get off the ground

December has proven to be a frustrating month for Birmingham City thus far, with Chris Davies' side starting to slightly fall behind those in the play-off race after a mixed run of recent form.

The first four fixtures of the month have yielded as many points for Blues, with those coming in encounters against Watford and, most recently, Charlton Athletic at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park, whilst away defeats at the hands of Southampton and Queens Park Rangers have been sandwiched inbetween.

A handful of players within the ranks, and Davies, have come under scrutiny as a result, as the West Midlands side are currently five points behind Hull City, who occupy the final place in the top six with 25 Championship fixtures still to play.

Unsurprisingly, many eyes were, and have been cast on developments in this part of the Second City, with ownership group, Knighthead Capital Management, making it no secret that Blues were not in the Championship to make the numbers up this time around, instead, returning to the division as a completely different entity in comparison as to how they were chaotically relegated in May 2024 after years and years of stagnation in its lower reaches.

As such, Tom Wagner and director of football, Craig Gardner, have continued to back Davies to the hill when it comes to making several key transfer decisions, as well as the mass funding which has gone into acquiring names such as Jay Stansfield and Kyogo Furuhashi in the striking department, albeit the latter is yet to open his league account following a £10m switch from Stade Rennais.

Kyogo is part of a relatively strong Far-East contingent amongst the Birmingham ranks at present, although it must be said that Paik Seung-ho and Tomoki Iwata have certainly enjoyed far more success than the former Celtic man.

However, whilst Furuhashi continues to receive ample first-team minutes in order to break his well-documented goalscoring drought, his compatriot and fellow summer recruit, Kanya Fujimoto, will already be questioning the decision to move to St. Andrew's in July, with his Blues future already plunged into serious doubt.

Fujimoto was heavily linked with a move to last season's record-breaking League One champions just weeks after they wrapped up the campaign. However, there were initial concerns about whether a deal would materialise due to fitness concerns surrounding the playmaker during the final weeks and months of his stint with Gil Vicente in the Portuguese top-flight.

Regardless of those concerns, the 26-year-old became one of 14 permanent or loan signings made in yet another extremely active and high-profile summer recruitment drive at St. Andrew's, penning a three-year contract in the process.

It was hoped that the Japanese youth international could fill the void left by former Rangers loanee, Kieran Dowell, having boasted an overall record of 12 goals and 20 assists in 156 Liga Portugal appearances.

However, fast-forward five months after the signing was confirmed, and the man, who is said to be taking home a base wage of £17,500 per week according to ESTIMATED figures from Capology, still remains an enigma to Bluenoses, who are yet to see him feature in a Championship outing for a prolonged period of time.

Granted, Fujimoto was signed with a knee injury, and was gradually introduced into the first-team fold, although his only start so far was an extremely underwhelming 45-minute cameo in the EFL Cup second round defeat to League One's bottom club, Port Vale, in B9.

Indeed, the only sighting of the former Tokyo Verdy midfielder in league action came through a one-minute appearance in the 2-2 draw against Sheffield Wednesday on September 30th.

Since that very night, Fujimoto has been named as an unused substitute on seven occasions, and has missed out on Davies' matchday squad as many times.

This included Saturday's home draw against the Addicks, as he was selected, alongside full-back Alfons Sampsted, to feature for Mark Kennedy's Under-21s side in a 2-0 defeat to Reading in the Premier League Cup at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Kanya Fujimoto must be seeking early Birmingham City departure amid key Chris Davies decision

Whilst Davies has not explained the decision which saw Fujimoto demoted into the underage squad last weekend, the 40-year-old did previously envisage regular minutes for the playmaker.

However, such developments are yet to transpire, which have only increased the feeling that the deal to sign the Japanese is already being filed into the mishap category.

At 26, Fujimoto should feel as if he is about to, or has already entered, his career's prime years, meaning regular football has to be sourced in order to avoid potential stagnation and decline in terms of productivity and performance levels.

As such, it would come as very little surprise to see a loan move, at the very least, potentially sanctioned by Blues in January. Bizarrely, though, there is also the chance for the well-backed Midlands outfit to earn a profit on his services down the line too, given he was signed on a free transfer.