Kyogo’s Birmingham Gamble Turns Sour as Exit Talk Grows

When Birmingham City landed Kyogo in the summer of 2025, it felt like a statement. A striker with 85 goals in 165 games for Celtic, a title-winner with Champions League minutes in his legs, dropping into the Championship for a newly promoted side. On paper, it looked inspired. Borderline audacious.

On grass, it never caught fire.

The plan was simple enough. Kyogo’s sharp movement and relentless pressing would dovetail with Jay Stansfield’s energy at St Andrew’s, giving Birmingham a front line with pace, craft and goals. The Championship, unforgiving as it is, was supposed to be the next stage of a proven finisher’s career, not a trapdoor.

Instead, the 31-year-old never got going. He stumbled through the opening weeks, chances snatched at, runs mistimed, the rhythm that defined his Celtic years nowhere to be seen. That slow start bled into something worse: a season that never truly began. One league goal, then the curtain came down early as he went under the knife to fix a long-standing shoulder issue.

For a player signed to be the difference, it has been a brutal comedown.

Former Birmingham favourite Clinton Morrison, speaking to GOAL in association with Freebets.com, admitted he is baffled by the collapse in form.

“I can't believe why it's not working because at Celtic his movement and the chances and the goals he was scoring were fantastic,” he said. “He was getting the chances at Birmingham City but just wasn't putting them in, and that can happen. That's just a player short on confidence and it hasn't really worked out.”

The numbers underline it. A single league goal for a marquee centre-forward is nowhere near enough, regardless of work rate. Morrison made that point plainly.

“His work rate's fantastic but you've got to have a bit more than work rate when you're a number nine,” he added. “You need to score goals and he was getting opportunities and he was just rushing at them.”

The pressure finally told in those early weeks. As the misses piled up, the belief drained away. The same movement that had shredded defences in Scotland suddenly looked frantic rather than clever, hurried rather than instinctive.

Morrison is convinced the story could have been very different if those first few games had broken another way.

“I think if he had started there in his first few games and started scoring a lot of goals as a centre-forward, his confidence would have just gone back through the roof and he would have scored a lot of goals, but he hasn't been anywhere near it.”

That leaves Birmingham with a decision to make. Kyogo is on significant wages, and a player signed as a leading man has slipped into the background. The club’s hierarchy must now weigh sentiment against hard numbers.

“That's a player they could move on because he's on big money and they try to see if they can get some money for him,” Morrison said. “Or do they stick with him and say, ‘this season could be your season and we don't have to spend money because he should be scoring goals in the Championship’.”

It is not a straightforward call. Kyogo’s record in the Scottish Premiership still carries weight. He has shown he can thrive in a high-pressure environment, in front of demanding supporters, with titles on the line. That kind of pedigree does not vanish overnight.

“He scored goals in the Scottish Premiership, so it's a difficult one,” Morrison admitted. “I hope he stays and I hope next season is his season, but you never know at Birmingham City because they have money - they can bring in players and move players on.”

Morrison is not alone in his surprise. EFL analyst Don Goodman, who has watched Kyogo closely, previously told GOAL that what looked like a dream move has veered sharply off course.

“He started missing real gilt-edge chances in those first six, eight games and you could slowly but surely just see the confidence drain away from him,” Goodman said.

The description is stark, but it fits. A striker who once lived off instinct began overthinking every touch. The more he chased that first big moment in a Birmingham shirt, the further it seemed to drift.

“In terms of value for money, it's gone horribly wrong with regard to that particular transfer,” Goodman added. “And it's surprising, really. I like his movement. He's energetic, he's quick. But he didn't look like he could hit a barn door, if I'm honest with you, after a difficult start.”

So Birmingham stand at a crossroads. Keep faith with a proven finisher whose debut campaign fell apart under the weight of expectation and injury, or cut ties and reinvest in a new focal point?

For Kyogo, the answer will define not just his Birmingham story, but the final chapters of his European career.