Whilst Birmingham City did splash out some serious cash to land Jay Stansfield last summer, the Blues did also operate rather shrewdly before the 2024/25 campaign got underway.
The eventual League One champions didn’t go overboard when landing potent goal machine Alfie May, with the decision to fork out a respectable £775k for the 31-year-old’s services more than paying off, considering the ex-Charlton Athletic man would go on to bag 17 strikes in all competitions.
Already, Birmingham have displayed this astute approach once more by recently snapping up Phil Neumann on a free transfer, with another rumour now suggesting that Chris Davies’ men aren’t finished there with savvy purchases.
Birmingham could soon land another golden deal
Unsurprisingly, the Tom Wagner-backed Blues have also been linked with some star names ahead of Championship action returning to St Andrew’s.
Indeed, Che Adams has been heavily linked with an audacious move back to the second-tier side, alongside Kwame Poku also being tipped to swap Peterborough United for a fresh location in the league above.
But, one move that is slipping under the radar in contrast is Birmingham’s hunt for Kanya Fuijmoto, with journalist Sebastião Sousa-Pinto revealing via his social media that Davies’ men are now moving towards an advanced stage in their attempts to sign the Japanese ace on a free transfer having already submitted a bid for the player.
If they were to land the Gil Vicente midfielder for nothing, this might go down as yet another golden deal where Birmingham don’t lavishly break the bank.
Further, Fuijmoto has the potential to be as popular as Tomoki Iwata in the midfield department at St. Andrew’s, with Iwata once a rather unknown entity to Blues fans – much like his fellow Japanese counterpart – before he more than exploded into life.
How Fuijmoto could be Birmingham's Iwata 2.0
Away from sharing the same nationality, the pair also possess a similar eye for goal and carving out chances centrally.
After all, Iwata would close out his debut campaign in England with a high eight goals and two assists from 47 overall contests.
Akin to the former Celtic man, the Vicente number ten would pick up five goals and five assists himself from 31 games over the same time span, with a hope in the air that he can potentially adapt to the hustle and bustle of Championship life well by putting in similarly electric performances in attack.
He could well offer more competition to the aforementioned Stansfield in the number 10 spot just behind the main centre-forward, therefore, alongside also being capable of slotting into a more traditional central role next to his Japanese compatriot based off his numbers below.
Games played
40
30
Goals scored
6
5
Assists
1
5
Touches*
67.1
34.6
Accurate passes*
49.7 (89%)
20.3 (83%)
Big chances created
4
8
Big chances missed
1
3
As can be seen looking at the table above, both players in question stand out as classy operators on the ball.
A “silky” midfielder – as he’s been previously lauded by analyst Ben Mattinson – he is more of an attack-oriented body that will push forward, compared with Iwata who will likely sit back and then burst into attack when necessary.
This could well be an intriguing partnership to watch next season as they work out each other’s varied games, with the extra addition of Fujimoto perhaps boosting Davies’ men even more in the forward areas as they embark on an initially challenging Championship step-up.
Whatever does happen, at least Birmingham aren’t dropping lots of money on the 25-year-old’s services.
But, as was shown with Iwata – who entered for around the £800k range – sometimes these are the deals that end up being the standout swoops.
60 EFL goals: Birmingham could sign their answer to Vardy this summer
Birmingham City could be about to land their own version of Jamie Vardy with this statement purchase.
ByKelan SarsonMay 15, 2025
