Birmingham City sent out a statement of intent last summer when they spent a reported fee of £15m to sign Jay Stansfield from Fulham after their relegation from the Championship.
They smashed the League One transfer record to land the England U21 international on a permanent deal, after he had spent the 2023/24 campaign on loan at St. Andrew’s.
Stansfield still has a long way to go before he lives up to that huge price tag, though, after he scored 19 goals in 37 League One matches this season, including nine goals from the penalty spot.
Despite having the English forward on their books, Birmingham are also reportedly in contact with Rennes to strike a deal for Japanese striker Kyogo Furuhashi, who scored ten goals in 22 league games for Celtic in the first half of the season, and he is not the only striker they want to sign.
Birmingham eyeing up Bundesliga striker
According to GIVEMESPORT, the League One champions will not be satisfied by just signing Kyogo to bolster their attack, as they want another forward as well.
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The report claims that Holstein Kiel centre-forward Shuto Machino has emerged as a target for the Championship side, after he caught the eye in the Bundesliga this term.
It states that the Blues want to sign the Japan international to further add to Chris Davies’ arsenal, which could include Stansfield, Kyogo, and Machino if all things go to plan before the end of the summer transfer window.
GIVEMESPORT does not reveal how much it would cost to sign the Japanese marksman, but Birmingham could land an even better striker than Stansfield by landing a deal for him in the coming weeks.
Why Birmingham should sign Shuto Machino
The Blues should push to sign the 25-year-old striker from the German team, after their relegation from the Bundesliga, because he could come in as an even better forward than the former Fulham youngster.
Whilst Stansfield is three years younger and has the potential to develop and improve in the years to come, the Japan international appears to be the superior option in the here and now for Birmingham.
Machino, who was described as a “true goalscorer” by manager Marcel Rapp, ended the 2024/25 campaign with a return of 11 goals in 32 Bundesliga outings, outperforming his xG of 6.43.
Stansfield, meanwhile, scored ten goals from 10.44 non-penalty xG and 19 goals from 18.32 xG overall in League One, which suggests that the Holstein Kiel forward could be more ruthless in front of goal as a finisher.
Appearances
32
37
Non-penalty goals
9
10
Big chances created
5
6
Dribble success rate
63%
35%
Ground duel success rate
44%
36%
Aerial duel success rate
39%
12%
As you can see in the table above, the Birmingham star scored one more non-penalty goal and created one more ‘big chance’, whilst playing five more matches in the third tier in England, compared to Machino’s output in the German top-flight.
Whilst playing at a higher level, the 25-year-old forward also provided more to his team out of possession by winning a much higher percentage of his physical duels, particularly in the air, which suggests that he would be an upgrade on Stansfield when it comes to duelling with centre-backs.
Overall, Machino’s qualities in and out of possession appear to place him in a better position to be a star as the main number nine for Birmingham in the Championship next season.
That could mean that Stansfield ends up playing on the left flank, where he made eight appearances this term, more often for the Blues, in order to fit Machino and Kyogo, if all goes well, into the starting XI.
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If all of these signings are completed, then Davies could have plenty of high-quality options to pick from when it comes to selecting his starting line-ups.