Birmingham City: Ex-Celtic FC player raid could be Kyogo 2.0 | OneFootball

Blues have already been linked with a handful of transfer moves ahead of pre-season

After a season of mixed fortunes, Birmingham City will still be expected to be among the contenders for at least a play-off position in the 2026/27 Championship if their recent ambition and investment is anything to go off.

Blues are seemingly no longer a club satisfied with finishing in mid-table or below, but that is where they found themselves finishing in the second tier this time around under Chris Davies, even though a position of 10th on 64 points was the club's best league finish since the 2015/16 campaign under Gary Rowett.

Under normal circumstances, such a finish for any club which had previously won League One 12 months beforehand would be somewhat celebrated, only this time it has been met with a mixed reaction as a result of the millions of pounds which have been spent by Knighthead over many recent squad reshuffles.

Indeed, many pre-season predictions saw Birmingham feature inside the play-off positions, expected to continue riding the crest of a wave as Davies' squad grew in terms of expected ability and impact, as well as experience across the Championship and beyond.

Unfortunately, those recruits in the summer and winter windows have returned mixed results in terms of their fortunes and impacts, meaning plenty of pressure is likely to be on the shoulders of Davies and his recruitment team to get it right this time around.

The season has only just finished, and, naturally, Birmingham have already been linked with a handful of potential targets, including former Celtic winger and current Charlotte FC man, Liel Abada.

However, there is also enough evidence to suggest that a potential move for the Israeli international may not turn out as first envisaged, which Blues and Hoops fans certainly know all about.

Liel Abada hasn't set the world alight since his Celtic FC days ended

Abada was recruited by Celtic in July 2021 from Maccabi Tel Aviv for a reported £3.5m fee, and he immediately became an impressive figure at Parkhead in a side which immediately reclaimed the Scottish Premiership crown from Old Firm rivals, Rangers, scoring 10 goals and providing a further seven assists in 32 league appearances.

During his second season at the club, the winger put up similarly impressive numbers as Ange Postecoglou's side achieved yet another SPFL crown before the Australian moved to Tottenham Hotspur, ironically, where his assistant was the aforementioned Blues boss, Davies.

Unfortunately for Abada, several on and off-pitch factors had a negative impact on his performance levels in the early weeks and months of the 2023/24 campaign under Brendan Rodgers, leading to his eventual £10m switch to the MLS club in February 2024.

However, whilst Charlotte have made great strides of progress under the management of former Aston Villa boss, Dean Smith, the 24-year-old hasn't exactly lived up to the hype which once surrounded him north of the border.

In 76 appearances across two full seasons and the beginning of the 2026 campaign, Abada has only scored 13 times and provided seven assists, which is hardly scintilating form.

As such, it has been claimed that, with his contract currently expiring in December, the likes of Blues and Norwich City have been alerted to a potential deal.

Birmingham City must heed Kyogo warning amid Liel Abada, Charlotte FC links

A move to St. Andrew's, though, may seem attractive to Abada given Birmingham's well-documented ambitions, as well as the fact he will be no stranger to the likes of Tomoki Iwata and Kyogo Furuhashi, both of whom were teammates of his at Celtic.

However, the latter's first season in B9 should also represent a transfer warning to the club, as they parted with up to £10m on the Japanese forward on a three-year contract, only for his campaign to be curtailed in April due to a shoulder blow after only scoring three goals across 31 appearances in all competitions beforehand.

Ultimately, there was plenty of expectation for Kyogo to deliver given his prior record at Parkhead, even though he struggled in a short-term period with Stade Rennais prior to his move back to the UK.

This even saw the striker become the subject of reunion talk with the Bhoys in January, although it was soon revealed that a hefty £40,000 per week wage caused major stumbling blocks on said front.

With Abada now seemingly in a similar boat, Blues may need to turn their attention elsewhere towards players whose recent career spells do not represent a decline of sorts, and instead are young and hungry, seeing their potential grow alongside that of the club as they gear up for the move to the Powerhouse in four years' time.