Japanese midfielder Kanya Fujimoto faces an uncertain future at Birmingham City, with manager Chris Davies indicating a January departure could be the best solution for the player.
A signing that hasn't worked out
Fujimoto joined Blues in the summer of 2025 from Portuguese side Gil Vicente on a three-year contract, following a lengthy pursuit by the club's recruitment team. However, the playmaker has been a peripheral figure at St Andrew's, making just one start in the Carabao Cup against Port Vale in August.
His league involvement has been minimal, with two brief Championship substitute appearances totalling mere minutes. More often than not, he has been the 21st man in the matchday squad, even when the team faced an injury and suspension crisis over the festive period.
High praise from a former mentor
In stark contrast to his current situation, Fujimoto's former manager at Gil Vicente, Ricardo Soares, speaks glowingly of the player. Soares used Fujimoto more than almost any other player in his two-decade coaching career.
"Fujimoto is a very, very intelligent player who understands the game very well," Soares told BirminghamLive. "Good left foot, very dynamic, very professional – maybe the best I've had to date. He is strong on the last pass and he’s a team player. If your team wants to have the ball he is perfect."
Soares also revealed a crucial personal detail, texting to add: "If you give him affection he is crucial in your team because he is very closed and quiet. He needs attention. That is essential for him to have very high performance."
Davies makes his position clear
Despite the data-driven recruitment that identified Fujimoto, and his apparent suitability for Davies' pressing system, the Blues boss has seen something different in training. His comments ahead of the FA Cup tie with Cambridge United in January 2026 were telling.
"The conversations I’ve had with him is that it might well be that the best solution is to move on to a team that can guarantee him minutes," Davies stated. "He deserves to play and he hasn’t played enough here, so we will support whatever works best for Kanya. He’s trained really well, he’s just not quite got ahead of the players in his position."
This suggests a fundamental mismatch between the player's profile and what Davies requires, potentially relating to physicality or adaptation to English football—concerns previously levelled at fellow Japanese midfielder Koji Miyoshi.
The reality is that Fujimoto, a player once highly coveted, now looks set to leave Birmingham City having made virtually no impact, a puzzle that neither the data nor his former manager can seem to solve for Chris Davies.
