Aryantaj Tajbakhsh (born 20 October 1990) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Kings Langley Kings Langley is a village, former Manorialism, manor and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, north-west of Westminster in the historic centre of London and to the south of the Chiltern Hills. It now forms part o ...

Club career

Tajbakhsh, who was known as Aryan Taj early in his career, was in the youth team at

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the ope ...

before joining Northwood. He signed for

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

at the start of the 2008–09 season and appeared on the bench for first team games, but did not play. Later that season he played for

Potters Bar Town Potters Bar Town Football Club is an English football club based in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, England. They were formed in 1960 as Mount Grace Old Scholars, and, after dropping 'Old Scholars' from the name in 1984, changed to their present na ...

and

Maidenhead United Maidenhead United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. They are currently members of and have played at York Road since 1871, making it the 'oldest senior football ground continuously ...

, before moving to Turkey to play for

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Antalya. The club's colours are red and white. They play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the club won the First League twice in 1982 and 1 ...

in the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

. Tajbakhsh never played for the first team, but he did play 12 times for the reserves in

A2 Ligi The U21 Ligi is the reserve team league for the top Turkish association football teams in the Süper Lig and 1. Lig. The league is split into western and an eastern division. History The league started in 1989-1990 and was named TFF PAF Ligi (Pr ...

, before a spell on loan at

Yalovaspor Yalovaspor is an association football club located in Yalova, Turkey, playing in the Turkish Regional Amateur League. History The club was relegated to the Third League after losing to Fatih Karagümrük 4–1 in an away match in Round 29 of ...

(

TFF Third League TFF 3. Lig (Turkish Football Federation Third League) is the fourth level in the Turkish football league system. It was founded in 2001–02 season as a continuation of then third level division Turkish Third Football League.Turkish Third Footba ...

) and then

Pendikspor Pendikspor is a Turkish sports club based in Pendik, Istanbul. The club's homeground is the ''Pendik Stadium''. The football team is widely known for their upsetting 2-1 victory over Fenerbahçe, in the 3rd round of the Turkish Cup (then Fortis ...

(

TFF Second League TFF 2. Lig (Turkish Football Federation Second League), is the third level in the Turkish football league system. It was founded in the 2001–02 season with the name of ''Turkish Second League Category B'' as a continuation of the then second lev ...

). Tajbakhsh then played for

Braintree Town Braintree Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Braintree, Essex, England. They are currently members of and play at Cressing Road. History The club was formed on 24 September 1898 as Manor Works, the works team o ...

Billericay Town Billericay Town Football Club is a football club based in Billericay, Essex, England. The club are currently members of and play at New Lodge. They are the second most successful club in FA Vase history, having won the competition on three o ...

, Harrow Borough,

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

, Walton & Hersham,

, St Albans City,

Aveley Aveley is a town and former civil parish in the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England, and forms one of the traditional Church of England parishes. Aveley is 16 miles (26.2 km) east of Charing Cross. In the 2021 United Kingdom ...

Cheshunt Cheshunt ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London on the River Lea and Lee Navigation. It contains a section of the Lee Valley Park, including much of the River Lee Country Park. To the north lies Broxbourne and Wormley, Hertfor ...

Ware Ware may refer to: People * Ware (surname) * William of Ware (), English Franciscan theologian Places Canada *Fort Ware, British Columbia United Kingdom *Ware, Devon *Ware, Hertfordshire *Ware, Kent United States * Ware, Elmore County, Al ...

, VCD Athletic,

Enfield Town Enfield is a large town in north London, England, north of Charing Cross. It had a population of 156,858 in 2018. It includes the areas of Botany Bay, Brimsdown, Bulls Cross, Bullsmoor, Bush Hill Park, Clay Hill, Crews Hill, Enfield Highway ...

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

and

Cray Wanderers Cray Wanderers Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in Sidcup, London. Based on later reports, the club has a claim to have been established some time in 1860 in the twin villages of St Mary Cray and St Paul's Cr ...

. While at Enfield Town, Tajbakhsh played in matches while suspended, leading to a three-point deduction for Town which led them to miss out on the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

playoffs in 2014–15, despite Town identifying that Aryan's former clubs had not correctly reported his personal details when informing the FA of bookings incurred when he was playing for them. Tajbakhsh joined

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

on 12 July 2016, and made his professional debut for Crawley on 30 August 2016, in an

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

match against

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

. On 17 February 2017, Tajbakhsh joined

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

side

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont and Kenton, and east of Headstone. The area accommodates ...

on a 28-day loan. A day later, he scored on his Wealdstone debut in their 1–0 victory over

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

, netting in the 45th minute. On 17 March 2017, his loan spell at Wealdstone was extended for a further month. Tajbakhsh left Crawley at the end of his contract in June 2018. He rejoined Braintree on trial in July 2018, scoring twice in a pre-season win over

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

. He signed for

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...

in August 2018. He moved to Maidstone United in November 2018, and to

Dulwich Hamlet Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in East Dulwich in south-east London, England. They are currently members of and play at Champion Hill. History The club was formed in 1893, by Lorraine 'Pa' Wilson. T ...

in February 2019. Tajbakhsh joined

in August 2021, before joining

in February 2022.

International career

Tajbakhsh was called up to the

Barawa football team The Barawa football team is the team representing the Somali diaspora in England. It is named after Barawa, a port town in Somalia. It hosted the 2018 ConIFA World Football Cup. History The Barawa Football Association was developed in 2015. Usi ...

for the 2018 ConIFA World Football Cup.

Personal life

Tajbakhsh is of Turkish and Iranian descent. His brother Noyan (born 1996) is also a footballer and was in the youth team at Fenerbahçe.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tajbakhsh, Aryan 1990 births Living people English footballers Northwood F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Potters Bar Town F.C. players Maidenhead United F.C. players Antalyaspor footballers Yalovaspor footballers Pendikspor footballers Braintree Town F.C. players Billericay Town F.C. players Harrow Borough F.C. players Farnborough F.C. players Walton & Hersham F.C. players St Albans City F.C. players Aveley F.C. players Cheshunt F.C. players Ware F.C. players VCD Athletic F.C. players Enfield Town F.C. players Hendon F.C. players Cray Wanderers F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Wealdstone F.C. players Dover Athletic F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players Dulwich Hamlet F.C. players Kings Langley F.C. players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players Southern Football League players Association football midfielders Footballers from Hendon English expatriate footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey English people of Turkish descent English people of Iranian descent English Football League players Sportspeople of Iranian descent