Why Blackburn Rovers' £2m pursuit of ex-Birmingham City star signals a new Championship trend | OneFootball

Koji Miyoshi could be yet another example of Asian talent making its way into the English game

Blackburn Rovers are intent on bringing ex-Birmingham City winger Koji Miyoshi back to the second tier, with that deal continuing to advance.

The Japanese international left the Second City in 2024, after playing a couple of games for the Blues in the third tier.

He then joined VFL Bochum in the Bundesliga, but was unable to keep the German side up as he suffered the cruel personal fate of back-to-back personal relegations - despite only playing 15 games throughout the course of the season.

Having earned five caps, and scored twice, for the Japanese national team, he will be looking for regular football in order to earn a place on the plane with Japan to the FIFA World Cup in 2026.

Miyoshi is one of a number of relatively high-profile Asian players who have come over to Europe and, more specifically England, to play their football - and there are a multitude of reasons for the change in the trend.

Work permits are a key factor

Miyoshi is an example of a player who moved to the UK on the 'International Sportsperson Visa' - where a foreign sportsperson is given the right to compete in the English leagues so long as they have approval from the relevant club, English FA and the Government.

The FA introduced a new law in 2023 stating that Premier League and Championship clubs can have up to four international players who might not meet the standard points threshold for work permits - with that ruling shortened to two players for clubs in League One and League Two.

Essentially, this has led to a wide array of talent from all over the globe coming to play in the English leagues, something that did stall for a short period due to COVID and the new Brexit rules.

Japan leads the way for Asian countries in English football

Miyoshi is another example of the Japanese influence on English football, with them being the most-represented Asian country as of 2024 in both the Premier League and the EFL.

Miyoshi was the first of many in the Second City - with Tomoki Iwata joining ahead of their League One title-winning season to partner South Korean Seung-Ho Paik at the base of their midfield.

Blues have also brought in Kanya Fujimoto and Kyogo Furuhashi ahead of next season - with Rovers already having Yuki Ohashi in the squad in East Lancashire.

Intriguingly, only Jamaica, Denmark and Australia have more players in the Championship outside of the non-UK and Ireland contingent than Japan.

Whilst South Korea also have a significant presence in the top four tiers of English football, particularly due to the success of Heung-min Son's spell at Tottenham Hotspur. Hwang Hee-Chan has become a fan favourite at Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League, whilst another Spurs signing, Min-Hyeok Yang, made an impact on loan at Queens Park Rangers in the Championship last season and now looks set for a move to Portsmouth.

The East Asian nations are certainly dominating in terms of numbers of players from that continent, although Hamza Choudhury has recently started representing Bangladesh and, hopefully, that's a sign of more South Asian countries starting to produce players who are EFL and Premier League ready.

On the whole, Miyoshi's move back into English football looks set to continue this very exciting trend as we are seeing more and more top players from all over the world coming to ply their trade in English professional football.