Alireza Jahanbakhsh played in the Netherlands for NEC and AZ, and has been playing for Feyenoord since this summer. The attacker acknowledges that he could also have worn the shirt of one of the Rotterdammers’ rivals. In his period at Brighton & Hove Albion, both Ajax and PSV showed interest, but the 28-year-old Iranian was not allowed to go to Amsterdam or Eindhoven.
“Ajax and PSV reported at the time when things looked different for me at Brighton,” Jahanbakhsh said on Saturday. The Telegraph. Brighton, however, was not open to a transfer at the time. “I could have played in those clubs’ shirts, but that’s behind me now. I am Feyenoord and play for a great club.”
Brighton transferred an amount of twenty million euros to AZ three years ago, but after his second year at NEC he already had an offer of the Seagulls in your pocket. At the time, the English still played in the Championship. “What stopped me was that the club didn’t play at the highest level. I was only 21 years old and wasn’t sure if that was the right move for me.”
“In that competition you play a match every three days. If you get injured, you will miss ten matches, so to speak. That was in my head. I then said to Brighton: ‘If you play in the Premier League, I will sign with you.’ But I said that more as a joke.” However, Brighton turned out not to have forgotten Jahanbakhsh’s ‘promise’ and reported to AZ in 2018.
In an extensive interview with The Telegraph Jahanbakhsh tells about his difficult years in England. Brighton, despite the few minutes that Jahanbakhsh made, did not want to cooperate in a transfer, despite good offers. “They always said, ‘No, we’re counting on him, he’s doing really well and we want him to stay.’ And then nothing happened. At the end of last season I said to Amir: ‘They don’t keep their promises’.” Feyenoord offered a solution and took over Jahanbakhsh for just over a million euros.