Birmingham City have now reportedly joined Crystal Palace in the race to sign an impressive winger from AFCON who would be an instant upgrade on Kyogo Furuhashi.
Chris Davies: “Tough defeat to take” against QPR
Birmingham couldn’t have asked for a more frustrating evening if they try against Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday. The Blues came back to level through Patrick Roberts in the 93rd minute, only for Kieran Morgan to snatch all three points from the hosts in cruel fashion three minutes later.
Chris Davies admitted the defeat was “hard to accept” when thinking about it full-time, telling reporters: “It was a very difficult defeat to take. Coming back into the game at 1-1 and with a minute to go, you think it’s going to be a takeaway but it wasn’t.
“To work towards half-time and get to 0-0 would have been a reasonable start for us in the first half, but again we conceded the first goal, and that gave us a big job.
“We have a lot to do, we started in the second half, we pushed and pushed. I was really happy that we were able to score that goal and then at the end it was a strike that went through a lot of bodies to the goal.
“At half-time I wasn’t happy with our performance. I thought what we could do was well below par, I thought we made a simple game much more difficult than it should be.”
That single defeat dropped the Blues to 11th and three points behind Hull City in sixth. If they want to earn a Championship playoff spot by May, then a January move for a player of Philip Otele’s caliber should be Birmingham’s priority.
Birmingham joins race to recruit Philip Otele
According to GiveMeSport’s Ben Jacobs, Birmingham have now joined the race to sign Otele and are rivaling Premier League side Crystal Palace for the winger’s signature in 2026.
The 26-year-old has been included in Nigeria’s preliminary squad for the Africa Cup of Nations and could earn a place in Eric Chelle’s final squad before playing in the tournament.
Before the tournament, Otele was already in fine form for Basel in Switzerland, scoring eight goals and providing a further three assists in 26 games this season. On the other hand, Kyogo has surprisingly struggled since arriving in Birmingham.
Many expected the former Celtic player to be one of the signings of the season, but he is yet to score a goal in the league and was recently guilty of a blatant miss with the net wide open. It’s just been a nightmare as summer arrives. A move for Otele could also cost Kyogo his place.
The winger has had many admirers throughout his career, with former CFR Cluj manager Adrian Mutu, who worked with Otele, telling journalists last year: “He has impressive physical strength, speed and technical ability. Although he can still work on his finishing, the interest doesn’t surprise me at all.”
Birmingham scouts spotted keeping tabs on exciting star in Wrexham side
