Tag: Ajax Amsterdam

Coach comments signal the end for Alireza Jahanbakhsh at Brighton.

One of the many difficult transfer decisions for Brighton and Hove Albion to make this summer is the future of Iranian winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh has made just three starts in the Premier League for Brighton this season

Jahanbakhsh, 26, has started just three times from his nine appearances in the Premier League under Graham Potter and didn’t once complete a full 90 minutes.

He scored in his first start against Bournemouth last December and also netted a memorable overhead kick when he came off the bench in the following match against Chelsea.

It didn’t however result in a sustained run in the team for a player who joined Brighton for £17m in 2018 from AZ Alkmaar and is contracted until June 2023.

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His other two outings in the starting XI were during the 3-1 loss at Bournemouth and the 1-0 defeat at Everton.

He failed to make the Premier League matchday squad entirely on 19 separate occasions this season and his only run out since the restart was for the final 20 minutes during the 5-0 home loss against Man City.

Jahanbakhsh scored 34 goals from 79 appearances at his previous club AZ Alkmaar and reports from Holland suggest Ajax want to bring the Albion man back to the Eredivisie as a replacement for Chelsea-bound Hakim Ziyech.

In 2017/18 he was the leading goal scorer in the Dutch top-flight with 21 goals and finished joint third with 12 assists. Jahanbakhsh is the first Asian player ever to finish top goalscorer in a top level European league.

“He’ll be frustrated of course because he wants to play and I understand that,” said Albion head coach Potter. “He’s been great around the club, great with me, he gives his best all the time but he’s like any footballer – they want to play more.

“So it’s something we have to think about over the break and do what’s right for him and the club.

“But he’s a good player and he can help us. But again you can understand it from his perspective that he wants to play more regularly than he has.”

The contradictory comments of Brighton coach who barely managed to keep his team in the Premier League is a signal that Jahanbakhsh has no future in the club. However, the player has always insisted that he wants to remain and prove himself. Brighton wants to offload many high-cost players and Alireza Jahanbakhsh is one of them.

Jahanbakhsh scores a brace against Champions Ajax

Ali Reza Jahanbakhsh came in from the bench on the 59th minute to score two goals against the Champions Ajax Amsterdam for his struggling team NEC Nijmegen in the  Eredivisie Dutch league.

NEC were trailing from minute 9 of the match in Amsterdam Arena from an own goal , before Jahanbaksh scored the equalizer on minute 74.

Ajax took the lead once again when ex-Barcelona winger Bojan Krkic scored with 7 minutes remaining. Jahanbaksh was the hero of the day when he equalized two minutes before the final whistle to make it 2-2. That vital goal by Jahanbakhsh ensured that NEC goes into the Relegation qualification rather than drop directly. In order top keep their place in the top league, NEC needs to beat RKC Waalwijk the team that is right above them in the table in a play off.

NEC Nijmegen finished ain the 17th place above Roda JC Kerkrade the team that was directly relegated.

The 20 years old Alireza Jahanbakhsh who joined the Dutch club at the beginning of the season has played 26 matches for NEC Nijmegen , mostly from the substitute bench, but scored 5 goals in the Eredivisie Dutch league. Jahanbakhsh will be certainly included by Queiroz in Team Melli squad for the upcoming Austrian camp starting next week. He is hopeful to make the final list of 23 players making Iran’s squad for the FIFA World Cup 2014