Birmingham City striker should be plotting exit - Stoke, Reading FC & Huddersfield Town need to swoop ASAP | OneFootball

The arrival of Kyogo Furuhashi at Birmingham has pushed Lyndon Dykes down their pecking order. Here are three possible new destinations for him.

The star-studded arrival of Kyogo Furuhashi at Birmingham City has caused a lot of excitement - for someone like Lyndon Dykes though, it could lead to an exit from St. Andrew's.

The Scotland international had a mixed 2024-25 season. Having arrived from Queens Park Rangers last summer, Dykes was part of a Birmingham City squad that raced to the League One title with a record-breaking 111 points,

Dykes himself however was relatively a bit-part player throughout the campaign, starting just nine league matches and he also missed the final two months of the season with a calf injury.

Birmingham have been busy in the summer transfer window and their ambition is showing. The signing of Furuhashi is an indicator that the club do not want to lose the momentum brought about by last season's promotion, but his arrival presents Dykes with a dilemma.

Kyogo's arrival is set to push Dykes further down pecking order at the club, meaning that he may be looking for a new one ahead of the 2025-26 season if he wants to get game time.

Birmingham, meanwhile, may have wealthy and ambitious owners, but they're still constricted by financial regulations, so shifting him off their books would be to their advantage as well - here are THREE EFL clubs who should be alerted to his availability.

Stoke City

Stoke City certainly struggled for goals throughout the 2024-25 season.

They ended the season finding the back of the net just 45 times in 46 Championship matches, with only Hull City scoring fewer.

Sam Gallagher, at 6 foot 4 inches tall, was their battering ram last season when he was fit and available, but injuries restricted him to 22 league appearances and three goals.

Divin Mubama has already signed from Man City on loan for the rest of the season, but Dykes could provide a different foil for the youngster - and one that generally stays more fit than Gallagher does.

Just one goal at League One level shouldn't put the Potters and Mark Robins off - the Scotsman brings more than just goals to the table.

Huddersfield Town

There is a chance that Dykes may have to drop back into League One to get game-time - could Huddersfield Town and new manager Lee Grant provide the answer?

The Terriers finished the 2024-25 season in 10th place in League One, with a lack of goals again one of their biggest issues.

The 58 League goals they managed in 46 matches were by some distance the lowest tally in the top half of the division, and increasing that will be key to them improving on last season's underwhelming performance.

It should be added that Huddersfield have already lost their two top scorers in the League last season.

Callum Marshall was their Player of the Year, but he was on loan from West Ham and has returned to his parent club, while top scorer Josh Koroma was released at the end of last season in a major squad cull.

Huddersfield have a lot of strikers on the books currently but all have their doubts - Joe Taylor was a £3 million signing from Luton Town in January but played just twice before being injured, Dion Charles didn't score following his mid-season move from Bolton Wanderers, both Freddie Ladapo and Bojan Radulovic will likely exit the club, and Rhys Healey's constant injury issues are evident.

Dykes however could come in and be the perfect target man to the pacey, smaller figure of Taylor, should Grant line up with two strikers - Huddersfield should have the money to get a deal done too.

Reading FC

Reading finished last season just two points short of the League One play-off places - a remarkable achievement, considering the behind-the-scenes chaos at the club throughout much of the season.

There's certainly space for strikers to arrive at the SCL Stadium this summer too.

Sam Smith left for Wrexham at the end of the January transfer window but still ended the season as their joint second-highest goalscorer alongside Harvey Knibbs, who is now more of an attacking midfielder for the Royals.

Manager Noel Hunt was left with Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan and Jayden Wareham for the rest of the 2024-25 season after Smith's exit, with the former not yet signing a new contract at the club and is now technically a free agent, whilst the latter has signed for Exeter City, so strikers are needed as a necessity.

The problem for Reading might be the cost.

Dykes is under contract at St Andrew's for another two years, and a full transfer might be beyond their financial means.

But they could look to a loan deal, which would also give Birmingham an opportunity to assess him further, if he can get through the season without the injury problems that he's had in recent years.