Brighton have seven figure bid accepted for Iranian international

Vavel – NIJMEGEN, Brighton are pursuing NEC Nijmegen’s Alireza Jahanbakhsh and are believed to have agreed a fee of over £1 million with the Dutch club for the winger.

Brighton are rumoured to have reached a deal with Dutch side NEC Nijmegen for Iranian international winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh, with the transfer fee in the region of £1.4 million.

N.E.C. have just won promotion to the Eredivisie, the top flight of Dutch football, by winning the Eerste Divisie this season, but they are already facing trouble in keeping their key players with Jahanbakhsh attracting wide interest.

Norwich City, now of the Premier League following their own successful promotion campaign, were reportedly eyeing up the 21-year-old winger, as were Celtic, Spartak Moscow and unnamed teams in Belgium and the Netherlands, but Brighton lead the race having made a concrete step with this accepted bid.

The player’s agent, Amir Hashemi, told Brighton-based paper the Argus, “I think it’s more than £1.4 million. They are interested. We are still busy with negotiations. I have been in England to see the stadium and facilities. We have to think, we are still talking.”

Hashemi also added, “it’s important Ali visits Brighton himself and talks to the manager [Chris Hughton]. He is back from holiday tomorrow and that is the next logical step.”

Brighton are looking to build upon a good end to the season under Hughton, which followed a terrible start after they sat in the relegation zone under the guidane of former Liverpool player and Bayer Leverkusen manager Sami Hyypia.

Hyypia’s sacking and Hughton’s appointment turned the season around and steered the club to safety, and now they will be aiming for what was initially their target at the beginning of the last campaign – promotion. The signing of an exciting young winger like Jabanbakhsh can boost their chances of achieving this.

The 21-year-old was named as the Eerste Divisie’s Player of the Season for 2014/15, leading N.E.C. to the league title with 12 goals and 18 assists. He has made 64 appearances for the club since joining from Iranian club Damash Gilan in 2013. Jabanbakhsh also has 14 caps for his country of Iran and was part of the squad that travelled to Brazil in last summer’s World Cup, appearing in all three of their matches before their elimination at the group stages.