Concern raised as Birmingham City push to sign Japanese star | OneFootball

Birmingham City are interested in bringing Kanya Fujimoto to St Andrew's, but concerns about his fitness could yet throw a spanner in the works.

Birmingham City's pursuit of the Japanese midfielder Kanya Fujimoto could be about to hit a brick wall on account of concerns about the player's fitness, according to reports.

Having completed promotion to the Championship with a record-breaking 111 points, the Blues have not been hanging about in the transfer market, and the soon-to-be out-of-contract Fujimoto, who has been playing in the Portuguese Primeira Liga for Gil Vicente since 2020, has been of interest to them.

Fujimoto has potentially got both short and long-term fitness issues

But according to GiveMeSport, this move has hit a snag which could turn out to torpedo it altogether.

Fujimoto has been under contract to Gil Vicente since 2022 and his contract expires this summer, but recently there have been concerns about both his short and long-term fitness.

He made his last appearance for the club in a 2-1 defeat to Sporting Clube at the start of May, but didn't appear in their final two League games of the season, both of which they won to finish 13th in the 18-team division.

Figures from the BBC.

But there are concerns that Fujimoto's absence from these two fixtures may be about more than just a short-term injury.

According to Transfermarkt, the only previous serious injury which has affected Fujimoto was a cruciate ligament injury that kept him out for almost an entire season while he was playing for his former club Tokyo Verdy in the J2 League in Japan. But the fact that he suffered this injury six years ago means that it's unlikely to be a recurrence of this problem.

Birmingham cannot afford to throw money at potentially unfit players

The appeal of Fujimoto to Birmingham is clear.

He is an experienced player who has been playing in the Portuguese top flight for the last five years, and his contract position with Gil Vicente means that he'll be available from the end of June with no transfer fee payable.

But even clubs with the money behind them that Birmingham now have need to be careful over what they spend it on. PSR rules limit the amount that a Championship club can report in losses to £41.5m over a three-year cycle, and while it's important that Birmingham bolster their squad if they're serious about challenging near the top of the division, the recent case of Leicester City provides a telling example of what could potentially go wrong.

This means that, while Kanya Fujimoto is a talented player and just the sort that Birmingham need to boost their attacking options, he may not turn out to be the one for them this summer. Regardless of the financial status of owners, they simply cannot afford to bring in players carrying injuries which could prevent them from playing for them in the future.