Alireza Jahanbakhsh @ AZ Alkmaar | 2017 - 2018

[Seagull]

Greetings from England - it is very surreal to see such passionate support of a player joining our club.

I'm looking forward to seeing Jahanbakhsh play for my club. It is true that he will probably be eased into the team but for sure we wouldn't be breaking our transfer record for a player to not play. It usually happens for various reasons. One, adapting to the PL can take a little time. Pascal Gross for example was our player of the season last season and in his first 3 games the local newspaper rated him 5/10. It took him a little bit of time to get used to the league. Also the manager Chris Hughton is very big on everyone knowing their role in the team and how to position themselves in every scenario so there will be a period of education for him in that respect. Finally we are very strong on sports science and had very few injuries last season. They will monitor him closely to ensure he builds up his minutes and fitness properly before they allow him to play a full 90 minutes.

Both of our first choice wide players, Knockaert and Izquierdo had moments of brilliance but were not at their best every game. So depending on who is in form I could see Jahanbakhsh playing on either side. When you break down the 1st choice and 2nd choice for each position we don't really have a back up for Gross just behind the striker. So AJ could cover that position too. Generally we have the right footed Izquierdo on the left and the left footed Knockaert on the right so Hughton likes his wide players to cut in. So personally I think most of his starts will come from the left, but time will tell.

My best prediction is Knockaert and March will start the season as they didn't go to the World Cup and JI and AJ will be used as subs to build up their fitness and perhaps start in the Carabao Cup.

[Martin-Reza]

5 years is more than I expected...I guess there will be a buy out clause, which might be the reason why he prefers the Brighton offer over Leicester.

[Essi]

Greetings from England - it is very surreal to see such passionate support of a player joining our club.

I'm looking forward to seeing Jahanbakhsh play for my club. It is true that he will probably be eased into the team but for sure we wouldn't be breaking our transfer record for a player to not play. It usually happens for various reasons. One, adapting to the PL can take a little time. Pascal Gross for example was our player of the season last season and in his first 3 games the local newspaper rated him 5/10. It took him a little bit of time to get used to the league. Also the manager Chris Hughton is very big on everyone knowing their role in the team and how to position themselves in every scenario so there will be a period of education for him in that respect. Finally we are very strong on sports science and had very few injuries last season. They will monitor him closely to ensure he builds up his minutes and fitness properly before they allow him to play a full 90 minutes.

Both of our first choice wide players, Knockaert and Izquierdo had moments of brilliance but were not at their best every game. So depending on who is in form I could see Jahanbakhsh playing on either side. When you break down the 1st choice and 2nd choice for each position we don't really have a back up for Gross just behind the striker. So AJ could cover that position too. Generally we have the right footed Izquierdo on the left and the left footed Knockaert on the right so Hughton likes his wide players to cut in. So personally I think most of his starts will come from the left, but time will tell.

My best prediction is Knockaert and March will start the season as they didn't go to the World Cup and JI and AJ will be used as subs to build up their fitness and perhaps start in the Carabao Cup.

Thanks for your post and welcome to our forum. Hope you enjoy your stay and give us more updates from the club

[Sly]

5 years at Brighton is too long to be honest! He'll be 29 by then! I sure hope he's got a very good buy out clause!

We want him in a bigger team in 2 years time.

[ShervinJ]

He wont stay the five, the Albion are looking to get a good transfer fee when he leaves in 1 or 2 seasons

[Sly]

Greetings from England - it is very surreal to see such passionate support of a player joining our club.

I'm looking forward to seeing Jahanbakhsh play for my club. It is true that he will probably be eased into the team but for sure we wouldn't be breaking our transfer record for a player to not play. It usually happens for various reasons. One, adapting to the PL can take a little time. Pascal Gross for example was our player of the season last season and in his first 3 games the local newspaper rated him 5/10. It took him a little bit of time to get used to the league. Also the manager Chris Hughton is very big on everyone knowing their role in the team and how to position themselves in every scenario so there will be a period of education for him in that respect. Finally we are very strong on sports science and had very few injuries last season. They will monitor him closely to ensure he builds up his minutes and fitness properly before they allow him to play a full 90 minutes.

Both of our first choice wide players, Knockaert and Izquierdo had moments of brilliance but were not at their best every game. So depending on who is in form I could see Jahanbakhsh playing on either side. When you break down the 1st choice and 2nd choice for each position we don't really have a back up for Gross just behind the striker. So AJ could cover that position too. Generally we have the right footed Izquierdo on the left and the left footed Knockaert on the right so Hughton likes his wide players to cut in. So personally I think most of his starts will come from the left, but time will tell.

My best prediction is Knockaert and March will start the season as they didn't go to the World Cup and JI and AJ will be used as subs to build up their fitness and perhaps start in the Carabao Cup.

Welcome to the forum!

I hear you guys are looking for a CB as well. I urge you guys to take a look at a few of Iran's CBs! We have a few extremely good young ones (21-24 years old) with WC experience and they'll be very very cheap for their qualities at this time. That would be a major benefit to your club quality-wise as well as economically. Just sayin'.

[brighton_fan]

Hi there, another Brighton fan here coming in peace! Like the others said, it's amazing to see so many people so passionate about a player we are signing! Just a couple of things, the signing looks like it's definitely complete, i'd expect the announcement to be within the next few hours, Andy Naylor (who posted the tweets that were posted on here earlier) is the sports reporter from the local paper and he rarely gets things wrong. Also, with the 5 year contract, it is very common in England for big signings like this to sign a long-term contract, and buyout clauses are fairly rare. It is usually just so clubs can demand a higher fee when they want to sell them (A player with 1 year left on their contract is less valuable than one with 4 years left) so it won't mean that he won't be able to leave in future for the right price. I really look forward to seeing him play for us and hopefully score lots of goals! I'll try and check up on this forum throughout the season to see how you think he's getting on! Seagulls!

[Bandar Hamal]

Now that the final hour is here I am so hyped

[Kiarash]

Jahanbakhsh also signed with AZ a 5 year contract back then when he went to AZ. In reality he stayed 3 years of his contract.

[Perseus]

Jahanbakhsh also signed with AZ a 5 year contract back then when he went to AZ. In reality he stayed 3 years of his contract.

Peak age of footballers is meant to be 27 or 28, not so sure about wingers? At 25 he will reach his peak in 2 years time.

Brighton & Hove Albion (The Albion) have been recruiting other squad players in the same age group.

First TV game is home to Man United, second week in. Tickets will be hard to get and will require joining the Membership scheme.

https://www.seagullstickets.com/en-gb/categories/home

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[STYX]

He is not goin to become a better player in England!. they will use him like a working horse and sell him for more money later, just hope he dosen't get injured playing crazy football in PL

[The Realist]

With all the lovey-dovey traffic between PFDC-Brighton fans, soon we need a new joint forum.

Iranian fans are emotional and patriotic more than most fans Brighton has witnessed. I guess we could at times be damn right arrogant and out of turn too

[DR Strangemoosh]

So she's CD and F?!!! What an odd combination.

Like Dion Dublin was!

[Futbaldoost]

Greetings from England - it is very surreal to see such passionate support of a player joining our club.
I'm looking forward to seeing Jahanbakhsh play for my club. It is true that he will probably be eased into the team but for sure we wouldn't be breaking our transfer record for a player to not play. It usually happens for various reasons. One, adapting to the PL can take a little time. Pascal Gross for example was our player of the season last season and in his first 3 games the local newspaper rated him 5/10. It took him a little bit of time to get used to the league. Also the manager Chris Hughton is very big on everyone knowing their role in the team and how to position themselves in every scenario so there will be a period of education for him in that respect. Finally we are very strong on sports science and had very few injuries last season. They will monitor him closely to ensure he builds up his minutes and fitness properly before they allow him to play a full 90 minutes.
Both of our first choice wide players, Knockaert and Izquierdo had moments of brilliance but were not at their best every game. So depending on who is in form I could see Jahanbakhsh playing on either side. When you break down the 1st choice and 2nd choice for each position we don't really have a back up for Gross just behind the striker. So AJ could cover that position too. Generally we have the right footed Izquierdo on the left and the left footed Knockaert on the right so Hughton likes his wide players to cut in. So personally I think most of his starts will come from the left, but time will tell.
My best prediction is Knockaert and March will start the season as they didn't go to the World Cup and JI and AJ will be used as subs to build up their fitness and perhaps start in the Carabao Cup.

Welcome to the Forum my friend and thank you for your insightful observations. Here are a few points about AJ (or ARJ or JB ) that will make his success at EPL (IF HE JOINS Brighton ) more probable:

1- AJ is very professional in words and in action. He means what he says and he says what he means. Very mature for his age (has been like this consistently since he was first called up to TM [Team Melli or Iran's national team] when he was 19 or 20). He comes from very humble beginnings, has never forgotten his roots and has learned both English and Dutch to professional fluency. He is an excellent communicator and takes his responsibilities seriously.

2- At TM he has worked under CQ (Carlos Queiroz), who was Sir Alex's right hand at Man U, for over five years now. He has been very disciplined and coachable at TM and has followed CQ's instructions with consistency. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that he has not scored as many goals for TM as his clubs because he has been sticking to coach's directions and fulfilling his defensive duties.

3- The way he handled his transition from Iran to Netherlands, tells me that he is ready to tackle the more difficult adjustment hurdles at EPL. This doesn't mean that he will not have ups and downs, it just means that he will make the best of every situation.

4- I have a lot of respect for Chris Houghton. Being from a community of color and having had to deal with so many challenges himself, I think Houghton will be very understanding of AJ and what he has been through in terms of adjusting to life and circumstances in Europe (not the same challenges of course but there are similarities). I am standing for the possibility that it will be an amazing professional relationship and AJ will excel under his guidance.

Go AJ!

[DR Strangemoosh]

With all the lovey-dovey traffic between PFDC-Brighton fans, soon we need a new joint forum.

Iranian fans are emotional and patriotic more than most fans Brighton has witnessed. I guess we could at times be damn right arrogant and out of turn too

One big traditional problem which Iranian players have that (for example) Koreans and Japanese don't is the fact that our boys come from a pariah state, whereby there will not be much value in marketing (sponsors, T-shirt sales etc...) and intermediary companies and clubs don't really exist as they do in Japan/Korea. So the potential for a transfer being lucrative is less for the team and for people behind the scenes.

Hopefully the realisation about just how passionate Iranian fans around the world are will wake some people up about this hugely untapped resource. People in Russia were amazed about how many Iranians there were and how passionate we are. What they don't know is that as well as 80 million football-crazy people in Iran we are 1-2 million in USA/Canada, 1-2 million in Europe, 1 million in other Asian countries etc....