Forward Alireza Jahanbakhsh has detailed how Feyenoord manager Arne Slot convinced him to move to the club from Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Iranian has been speaking to Football 360 in his homeland, relayed by MSN, about his career to date and the various decisions he’s made so far.
One of the biggest was his decision to return to the Netherlands with Feyenoord in July 2021 after three years with Brighton in the Premier League.
He had joined the Seagulls in a €19m deal in 2018 after five years impressing in the Eredivisie but was unable to replicate the form he’d shown, managing just four goals and two assists in 61 games for Brighton in all competitions.
A decision had to be made on where he would go next, but he decided to return to the Netherlands with Feyenoord, a decision he says was made thanks to talking to Arne Slot.
“He was the assistant during my last year at AZ,” he said.
“He helped me a lot and it ended in a fantastic year for me. He called me and said he would start at Feyenoord in the new season. He asked what I would think about returning, but I didn’t make any promises yet.
“It went pretty well at Brighton, and I got more minutes. I told him we would talk later in the season. He told me I could find rhythm at Feyenoord, and I would play every game, it was a tough decision.
“At the end of the season I was seriously considering leaving Brighton, I had two or three options. Slot’s football vision, his ambitions and conditions convinced me to come to Feyenoord.”
