{"id":32951,"date":"2018-07-29T18:21:14","date_gmt":"2018-07-30T01:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/?p=32951"},"modified":"2018-07-29T18:21:51","modified_gmt":"2018-07-30T01:21:51","slug":"why-albion-move-might-not-be-the-biggest-challenge-of-jahanbakhshs-career-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2018\/07\/29\/why-albion-move-might-not-be-the-biggest-challenge-of-jahanbakhshs-career-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Albion move might not be the biggest challenge of Jahanbakhsh’s career so far"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Argus – BRIGHTON, For a 21-year-old, Alireza Jahanbakhsh made a very mature decision three years ago.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the time, not everyone thought he had got it right.<\/p>\n

But he was confident in what he was doing. Some good judges backed him. Albion followed him.<\/p>\n

And the pay-off came yesterday when winger and suitor\u2019s enduring faith in each other led to pen meeting paper at Albion\u2019s training complex.<\/p>\n

It was a brave decision by Jahanbakhsh back in 2015. How many times have we gone to that same interview room in Lancing and been told by a foreign player that his dream was to play in England?<\/p>\n

When he came over in 2015, he felt at home.<\/p>\n

He was impressed by his tour of the Amex and training facilities.<\/p>\n

And he was on the same wavelength as boss Chris Hughton, who was looking to build a team capable of challenging for promotion.<\/p>\n

But he wasn\u2019t so sure the 46-game hurly-burly of Championship football was right for him. Not at that stage, anyway.<\/p>\n

It was a bold decision. Brave if you like. A risk maybe.<\/p>\n

But it turns out the brave decision, or risk, he looks back on which made his career was in leaving Iran to join NEC Nijmegen in 2013.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t exactly land in a bed of roses in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

With play-offs, relegation and promotion there was heartbreak and success along the way. And goals \u2013 17 in two seasons.<\/p>\n

All of which took him to that crossroads in 2015 when Albion and Alkmaar were among the clubs who wanted him.<\/p>\n

Jahanbakhsh told The Argus, \u201cWhen I went to Nijmegen it was, to be honest, maybe the same situation for me as now.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the big difference at the time was I was just 18. I was a kid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a risk. It was a big change for me to get out of the country and to come to a new situation, to learn the language, all those things.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank God I was flexible. I learned the language really soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI adapted myself to a new environment and it went well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI developed myself at Nijmegen, I had two great years there.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that I decided to go to Alkmaar for the past three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have seen a lot of ups and downs for my age.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat helps you to become a better player. There have been a lot of emotions there and I know all those feelings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can handle different situations and I am really happy that all those things happened in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jahanbakhsh knows there was a lot of excitement about his impending arrival.<\/p>\n

He is excited too \u2013 but comes across as a laidback character.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI am trying to be myself, nice and easy. I think about what I want to achieve and work hard for it. My personality is just easy and being nice to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in 2015, Jahanbakhsh found he clicked with Hughton, a manager who always plays with two wingers.<\/p>\n

He kept track of Albion\u2019s climb towards the Premier League. But not that closely, it would seem.<\/p>\n

He knew all about the results but had to double-check Hughton was still in charge when Albion came calling this time. The answer he received was music to his ears.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWhen I first came here I wanted to find out about the country, about the new environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had never been in the UK before and it was a good chance to visit this country, the club itself and the facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I saw all those things it made me feel like I had to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince 2015, I have always been thinking about the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always had a good mindset about the club. Three years ago when I spoke to the manager, the strategy was the same way as I play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why the first thing I asked when I heard from Brighton was who the manager is.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was told he was still there, I was really happy about it because I know he uses wingers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that time, he was really counting on me to move to this club.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest it was Championship football at that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a young player, just 21, and there is a big physical side to the Championship.<\/p>\n

“In that moment I thought maybe Brighton is good but, if I needed to play in the Championship, it is very physical and at such an age, with less experience, all those things made me feel I didn\u2019t need to make that move.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stayed in Holland to become a better player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke a lot with my agent, my parents, our coach from the national team (Carlos Queiroz) and my idol.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have got one guy, an ex-player Mehdi Mahdavikia, and he is my idol. And I spoke to my ex-trainers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them said it was a great opportunity to go to Brighton \u2013 a nice club in England.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut most of them said \u2018we respect your decision and it is maybe wise to stay two or three more years in the Netherlands and develop yourself\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI was thinking about this club, especially when they were promoted into the Premier League.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking \u2018If I get the opportunity again, I will take it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Argus – BRIGHTON, For a 21-year-old, Alireza Jahanbakhsh made a very mature decision three…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26307,"featured_media":32952,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,89,93,86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c47-featured-news","category-c16-iranian-legionairs","category-c22-players-spotlight","category-c13-team-melli-news"],"views":1303,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32951"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32953,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32951\/revisions\/32953"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}