Birmingham could land a bigger coup than Kyogo & Stansfield in £14m star

Birmingham City will be looking to join an exclusive club next season in attempting to seal the dramatic feat of back-to-back promotions.

Ipswich Town were the last triumphant outfit to manage back-to-back promotions from League One all the way up to the promised land of the Premier League, whilst the likes of Southampton, Norwich City, Manchester City, and Watford have all also achieved the same unthinkable goal, with Birmingham wanting to add their name to this unique list shortly.

The Blues’ whirlwind summer transfer activity to date will have done them no harm in trying to pull off such an inconceivable accomplishment, with the standout capture of Kyogo Furuhashi for £10m one deal that certainly demonstrates the Blues’ hunger to try and become Premier League-bound.

Kyogo’s statement arrival to St. Andrew’s

It has even been reported now that the ex-Celtic attacker turned down opportunities to go to higher-up sides to hop on board the enthralling St. Andrew’s rollercoaster.

He clearly believes in the project, and he will surely want to be remembered as the goalscoring hero that managed to push the Blues up to the Premier League very soon, having already garnered a reputation for being a deadly goal machine when bagging a mammoth 85 strikes on the books of the Hoops.

The buzz surrounding this Kyogo deal is very reminiscent of Jay Stansfield’s arrival on the scene last summer for an equally hefty fee of £15m with the former Fulham man dropping all the way down to League One – even as he knew full well he was held in high regard at Craven Cottage – to then becoming the decisive star that fired home a promotion-sealing 19 strikes.

Kyogo is on the same pedestal as Stansfield, therefore, in potentially going down as a season-altering purchase, but there is another transfer target on the Blues’ radar that might be seen as an even more daring coup than the much-talked-about attacking duo if a move is pulled off shortly.

The £14m star who’d be a bigger coup than Kyogo & Stansfield

Whilst both Kyogo and Stansfield have stunned supporters across their collective careers with their ice-cold ability to finish off chances under pressure, neither has been a success story at the very pinnacle of English football, with the first of those two names never actually competing in the Premier League.

Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Hwang Hee-chan has that on his side, fortunately, as Birmingham now attempt to land the South Korean forward for around the £14m mark, according to reports.

Before he saw his minutes at Molineux deplete under the fresh Wolves reign of Vitor Pereira, Hwang was seen as one of the more reliable attackers in the Old Gold squad, with his tally in the Premier League for the 2023/24 season coming in at a sturdy 12 goals.

Amazingly, that was the exact same amount Matheus Cunha managed that campaign in league action, before his form exploded into life even more to attract Manchester United’s interest.

Hwang’s G/A record by club
Club played for	Games played	Goals scored	Assists
RB Salzburg	126	45	29
Wolves	119	24	8
FC Liefering	31	13	8
RB Leipzig	28	3	4
Hamburg	21	2	2
Sourced by Transfermarkt

Whilst Hwang might well have hoped for a similar earth-shuddering move down the line himself, it’s more a sign of Birmingham’s ambition than it is an indicator of the South Korean settling for an underwhelming switch down a division, with a further 74 goals and assists coming his way in the Austrian top-flight across his well-travelled career to date.

This blistering spell for Salzburg even saw Erling Haaland, who led the line with Hwang in the Austrian Bundesliga, label the 29-year-old as “absolutely crazy” in the way he operates as a captivating forward presence.

Unfortunately for Kyogo, he has also suffered from some barren patches of form in front of goal away from his celebrated Celtic spell, with zero strikes coming his way during a brief Rennes stint.

Moreover, Stansfield only ever tasted the luxuries of the Premier League on occasion with Fulham, with Hwang more than ready to take the Championship by storm as a coup purchase, before then potentially settling back into the challenging division with confidence if the Blues have made their top-flight dreams come true.