Kyogo Furuhashi has got his Birmingham City career properly underway.
The former Celtic striker ended his nightmare stint at Stade Rennais by signing for the EFL Championship side for £10m in early July.
Kyogo played some minutes in the 1-0 friendly win for the Blues over Premier League outfit Nottingham Forest last weekend.
He was handed a start on Friday night for his competitive debut as his team kicked off their Championship journey against Ipswich Town.
And it’s safe to say he proved what his manager Chris Davies was previously thinking about him to be totally wrong.
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty ImagesChris Davies wasn’t ‘too pleased’ with Kyogo progress
Sky Sports pundits Clinton Morrison and Curtis Davies were chatting live on TV before Birmingham’s 1-1 draw with Ipswich at St Andrew’s.
And Morrison was quick to hail the signing of Kyogo by the Blues, but Davies then pointed out that Birmingham boss Chris Davies wasn’t too happy with Kyogo’s early progress.
Clinton Morrison: “He’s a good player, you saw that at Celtic, it didn’t work out for him at Rennes, but you could see at Celtic, he was brilliant.
“Man City were linked to him before he went to Rennes, as a back up to Haaland, that’s how much he is held in high regard.
“He’s got great movement and he can score goals, as soon as I saw Birmingham City has signed him I thought it was a brilliant signing.
Curtis Davies: “I couldn’t agree more, it’s a real statement of intent. I’m not sure Chris Davies is too pleased with how quickly he’s got up to speed with what he wants his team to bring to matches but I think they are going to trust in his experience of big games.”
But Kyogo silences boss during Birmingham debut
However, Kyogo silenced any doubts that were lingering over him against Ipswich as he put in a tremendous debut performance.
The Celtic hero really should have been on the scoresheet after seven minutes when he lobbed an effort over the goalkeeper and into the net.
But the referee disallowed the goal as he deemed Kyogo to have fouled the Ipswich defender, when really there was very minimal contact.
Kyogo was then key to Birmingham’s opener early in the second period as his chipped strike hit the post and rebounded back out to Jay Stansfield, who buried the ball home.
He was subbed off after 77 minutes before Ipswich snatched a 95th minute stoppage time equaliser to grab a share of the spoils.