General Question about Iranian Football

[IranPowned]

Dear Hamvatan gholam, (sorry for opening the thread)

I have a question about iranian footballers. Alireza Jahanbakhsh is a good footballer, but when I watch IPL-football, I see much more talented players then him. Examples are Vahid Amiri, Ali Alipour, Ehsan Hajsafi, Mehdi Taremi, Bakthiar Rahmani and Mehdi Sharifi. Why is he playing in Europe (which was a great move) and players like Amiri and Hajsafi not. Don't understand me wrong though, I love Alireza's courage and he definitly grabbed his chance but I think that players like Hajsafi en Amiri deserve the chance more. Is this because of the connections that Alireza had?

[Kiarash]

Jahanbakhsh was scouted by NEC staff during a youth tournament, that's how he got offered a contract.

[Camran khan]

Not sure if I agree with all of those you mentioned being more talented than Alireza, but it is partly because Alireza was scouted during an international youth tournament, and he was at the time young which resulted in him being much cheaper for NEC, if they would buy Hajsafi who is 25, they'd have to pay him much more than what they were paying Alireza.

[Gucci10]

Question is how good would they do in Europe? ARJ would rape back in Iran currently.

[perspolis#1]

Talent doesn't take you everywhere these days. Motivation, Economic benefit, Domestic player rules, and reputation does. Iran does not have a good reputation for its footballers in Europe because in most cases our players were on teams that got relegated. Not our players fault per say, but the teams that gave our first few Iranians chances were relegation teams to begin with. Iranians have a slightly elevated reputation in La Liga because of Nekounam/Shojaei. Slightly lower reputation in England because of Hossein Kaabi, Gucci, Bagheri situations. Our highest reputation is probably in the Bundesliga but we are competing with the Japanese who are easier to market. Think about if you are a European manager in a Bundesliga team. It's not your job to expand a helping hand to Iranian football if Japanese football has better marketing/profit rates and the players are more or less the same talentwise. Jahanbakhsh was succcessful because NEC decided to take a risk on him, and it ended up well. The surprise factor really helped him improve.

[Zamboor]

if Jahanbakhs was in IPL now he would be asian player of the year three years in a row.

[IranPowned]

I understand the opinions of you all. As I said, Alireza grabbed his chance with both hands. He did great. But when I saw Amiri this year at the Asian Cup against UAE and Iraq, I really thought: 'why this boy don't get a chance in Europe?, he will do great. Hajsafi played an AFC CHampions League at age 17 and showed his class against Messi at the WC. And two days ago I saw Alipour destroying Sepahan defensive. I really hope these guys get the same chance as Alireza, because they definitely deserve it.

[IranPowned]

if Jahanbakhs was in IPL now he would be asian player of the year three years in a row.

Maybe but I really expected more from him at the Asian Cup. At the dutch second division he destroyed every team but he really struggled against UAE. And I wasn't impressed from his perfomance against Saudi Arabia either at the Under 23 Asian Cup Qualfication.

[Camran khan]

Jahanbakhsh is as good as he is because of developing in Holland, if he had stayed in Iran he wouldn't be that special, so if our other talented players got the chance to go to Europe I'm sure they would turn in to much better players too.

[Z Joon]

General Question about Iranian Football

Your observation is good, it is all about opportunities and being at the right place at the right time. JB was scouted and got picked, he was also willing to take the risk of earning less while focusing on his development, thing that a lot of Iranian players are not ready to do.
At the moment Alireza got snatched by NEC, they were many many other Iranians as good and better than him, but he was there at the right place, and him and Azmoun got European contracts. They were motivated to do well and to become relevant in international football, which brought them now to where they are.

[irani8perspolis]

The only player in IPL technically better than Alireza are, Omid Alishah, Payam Sadeghian and Khalatbari

[IranPowned]

The only player in IPL technically better than Alireza are, Omid Alishah, Payam Sadeghian and Khalatbari

Hajsafi? Watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku0e_JCxT14

18:57
44:48
1:16:18

[persepolisfan]

I seriously doubt jahanbaksh would destroy the ipl

[babak_iran]

The only player in IPL technically better than Alireza are, Omid Alishah, Payam Sadeghian and Khalatbari

[ameri]

The reason the others you mentioned are not in europe is because they do not want to be in europe. They do not have the "hunger" and drive to play there. They do not want to take low wages and the risks that it might not workout for them. Most of all, they are comfortable where they are in Iran where they get paid way more than they deserve and where there is no discipline to perform at the level expected in mostly all european level competitive leagues.