'Talk' of former Celtic star leaving Birmingham City takes flight as ace endures 'challenging time' at Blues
The former Celtic star was briefly linked with switching Birmingham City for Parkhead.
Former Celtic coach Chris Davies has addressed the chances of a Parkhead favourite making a shock transfer exit from Birmingham City.
The winter window for clubs in the UK may have shut but other markets are still available for business, and the American-based MLS is one of them, open until next month amid their calendar year-style format. Kyogo has struggled since joining Birmingham City from Rennes last year and has just one league goal for the Blues, with a return to Celtic mooted as an option last month, but nothing came of it.
He netted 85 times in 165 Celtic appearances and Davies has noted rumours of a move to America possibly being an option for the Japanese international. He has heard them, and the Birmingham City coach who previously coached at Parkhead with Brendan Rodgers concedes it has been a difficult period for the forward who has not played since January 24th, missing Saturday’s win at Norwich City with injury.
What former Celtic player could leave Birmingham City?
Davies told Birmingham Live: “He’s unfortunately not got the game time that he would want recently, he got a fair bit of it in the first half of the season. He’s picked up a knock which has set him back again. It’s just been a challenging time. First and foremost, he needs to get fit, strong and available, then it’s to stay in there and take the chance when it comes because opportunities always do present themselves at some point.
“Kyogo is experienced enough, he knows he needs to stay in there when it comes. There’s been talk of that (a move to the MLS). From my point of view, this is our squad and this is how it stays. If something there comes up that has to be looked at then obviously we will respect the player and everything else, as we do in open transfer window time.
“In my mind we’ve got our squad, there’s 14 games to go and we go for it from here. As a coach and a manager, you need to have empathy to be good at the job. You’ve got to see how hard it is for players and the most precious thing for them is game time.
Chris Davies on Kyogo at Birmingham City
“I’m fully aware when I’m not giving them enough and I always try to communicate and be proactive to explain my reasons why and encourage them to continue. Kyogo is in that boat right now but he’s not someone that would mess up training or be a bad toxic influence, and that says a lot, because in those adverse situations the character comes shining through.
“We’ve had players since I’ve been here that become much more negative and toxic and others that handle it very professionally. They don’t have any less desire to play, but they are just a better character to deal with that adversity and Kyogo is an outstanding character so there’s no issues there.
“Football changes really quickly. If you look back through your own career and others’ careers, it can be the strangest thing that can change it all around for you. You’ve just got to stay really resilient and hang in there.”