Birmingham City boss expects Kyogo Furuhashi stay amid Celtic link

Manager Chris Davies expects striker Kyogo Furuhashi to remain at Birmingham City despite reported interest from former club Celtic.

The Japan international has scored just once since arriving in the summer after an unhappy six months with Rennes in France.

Asked about the 30-year-old’s future, Davies said: “Kyogo is our player, who has been playing more matches recently than he has done in the last few months.

“The plan is that Kyogo continues in that vein – gets his goals and gets his game moving. So I’ll support him to do that.”

Despite reports of negotiations with Celtic, Davies said: “We’ve had no discussions at the moment about anything other than Kyogo giving his best and doing his best for Birmingham City.

“Personally, I think he’s going to stay here and potentially battle through whatever comes in front of him.”

Kyogo, who scored 85 goals in 165 appearances for Celtic, started the 3-0 defeat by Watford but was back to coming off the bench for the 3-2 defeat of leaders Coventry City at the weekend.

“Kyogo cannot be doing any more in terms of his own efforts with the club,” Davies added. “So we’ve been supporting him and we’ll be going along with that.

“Again though, like a lot of things, we’ll obviously see as things progress through January where everyone is and make sure everyone is on the same page.

“But, certainly at this moment in time, Kyogo is an important player in the squad and will continue to be so.”