Birmingham City striker leads Championship in unwanted area - It's not Jay Stansfield | OneFootball

It hasn't been a second-tier start to remember for Birmingham City's marquee summer signing

There was plenty of fanfare surrounding Birmingham City this summer with the signings they were able to make, and Kyogo Furuhashi was at the top of that list of arrivals.

Part of this was due to his immense scoring record during his time at Celtic, but also because of the reported £10.3 million that the Championship side parted ways with to bring him to the club from Ligue 1 side Rennes.

The deal would have smashed the previous club record fee, if not for Jay Stansfield's arrival the previous summer for £15 million, and with 19 league goals in his permanent debut season, and a couple in the opening five games of the current Championship campaign, it's clear that the England U21 international is thriving under that pressure and fanfare.

Unfortunately, Kyogo hasn't seemed to provide the same quality in front of goal during the infancy of his Birmingham career, with his sole goal coming via one of the simplest tap-ins he'll ever score in their EFL Cup win over Sheffield United.

In the Championship, he's been quite wasteful in front of goal, despite getting into plenty of goalscoring positions.

It's a possible early cause for concern, but one that plenty of Birmingham fans will feel can be eradicated once he finally gets that first league goal over the line for his new club.

Birmingham City's Kyogo Furuhashi leads the Championship in big chances missed

It's been a frustrating opening month and change for Kyogo at St Andrews. The 30-year-old's ability to put himself in the right place to score, which helped him net over a goal every other game during his time at Celtic, has been on show, but the finishing touch hasn't quite been there just yet.

His six big missed chances are more than any other player in the Championship through the opening six games. Three of those came in their 1-0 win over Oxford United, and he also managed to miss two in his substitute appearance in their recent 1-0 win over Swansea City.

This can be seen as a big issue, despite it being early in his tenure at his new club, due in part to it being a continuation of Kyogo's poor stint in France after he left Celtic this past January.

The Japanese international's most recent league goal came on January 11th, over eight months ago, after his time at Rennes was spent mostly out of the side, starting just once, playing six games overall and failing to score before he made the move to Birmingham.

It's arguably the biggest dry spell of his career, and many Championship fans are wondering if his confidence has been shot to the point of no return, with a league goal looking almost impossible to pick up in the near future.

It should only be a matter of time before Kyogo starts firing again for Birmingham City

Realistically, those who feel that Kyogo has been a flop less than two months into his time at St Andrew's are overreacting massively.

There would be more of a claim to be made if the 30-year-old was anonymous on the field and taking away from the Birmingham attacks, but the fact that he's getting into golden positions to score shows that he still has the skill to be a top Championship striker; he's just missing that goalscoring knack.

Kyogo's dynamic burst of pace and ability to pick the ball up and drive at opposition defenders with speed, guile and intent have all offered chutes of encouragement, even if the end product remains elusive for now.

He's the only player so far in the Championship to accumulate over two xG without scoring a goal, which further affirms the idea that he's getting into the right places and getting quality shots off — he's just not getting the rub of the green that others may be getting currently.

As someone who would have been used to scoring goals for fun for the Scottish giants, this current dry spell is uncharacteristic and has understandably knocked his confidence somewhat. However, there should be some belief and expectation that, once one falls in, the floodgates will start to open.