Alireza Jahanbakhsh Joins Extremely Select List of Iranian Premier League Players

Source: Alireza Jahanbakhsh via Facebook

Iranian winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh has just signed a five-year contract with Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion, and in doing so has joined an exclusive club which previously only consisted of three players - Jahanbakhsh is the fourth player from Iran to play in England’s elite division. In its history, the English top flight has rarely been graced with talent from the Middle Eastern nation, but the World Cup star will be hoping he can make his mark in Chris Hughton’s side and open up the door for future Iranians to try their luck in English football.

After joining the Seagulls for a club-record fee of around £20 million, it is likely that Jahanbakhsh will slot straight into Hughton’s set-up as a regular starter. This will almost certainly give the 24-year-old the opportunity to step up to the rigours of English football and get on the path towards succeeding in the division where others have failed. The manager will also be hoping that this addition can help the club push for a top-half finish. At the time of writing, the Seagulls are 7/1 in the football betting to end the season in the top ten.

Jahanbakhsh is following in the footsteps of Karim Bagheri who played for Charlton Athletic once in the 2000-2001 campaign, Andranik Teymourian who made 20 appearances for Bolton Wanderers and one for Fulham between 2006 and 2009, and Ashkan Dejagah who played for Fulham 43 times from 2012 to 2014. The latter was the most successful of this Iranian trio, while the other two failed to make a mark. Dejagah scored five times for the Cottagers, and was also voted by fans as the club’s player of the year at the end of the 2013-14 season. However, the 32-year-old was unable to save his side from relegation, and moved on to Al Arabi the following season.

This is the prime opportunity for Jahanbakhsh to raise his game and become one of the best Iranian footballers of all time. The summer signing has already been compared to country legend Mehdi Mahdavikia, who played 110 times for Iran from 1996 to 2009. Like the former national hero, Jahanbakhsh also possesses excellent natural ability and is technically brilliant on the ball. Hughton will be expecting the new signing to cause problems for opposition defences with his blistering pace and put balls into the box for his strikers to pounce on.

Jahanbakhsh will also be hoping he can continue his potent goalscoring form in England. Last term, he ended the campaign as the top scorer in the Eredivisie with a total of 21 goals. Remarkably, the player managed to bag two hat-tricks in his final three games. He also laid on twelve assists in his finest season to date.

It is time for Jahanbakhsh to make the step up now to a much more competitive league. If he can continue to improve as he has done throughout his career, he could go on to become a legend for Brighton.