Mohamed Salah Joins Trabzonspor: A New Chapter Begins
Mohamed Salah, one of Liverpool’s greatest modern icons, has chosen Trabzon over Turin, the Black Sea over the Saudi billions.
The 34-year-old forward has signed a two-year deal with Trabzonspor after leaving Liverpool on a free transfer, drawing a sharp line under a glittering nine-year stay at Anfield that ended in acrimony and early termination.
Anfield era ends with a jolt
Salah’s Liverpool contract was due to run until April 2025. It didn’t get close.
After a turbulent final season, marked by a high-profile fallout with then-head coach Arne Slot and the shock of being dropped – notably at Leeds – club and player agreed to cut ties a year early. A relationship that had delivered seven major trophies and 257 goals in 442 games ended not with a farewell tour, but with a mutual handshake and a door quietly closing.
He leaves as Liverpool’s third-highest goalscorer of all time, a figure that puts him in the company of the club’s immortals. League titles, European glory, cup finals, record-breaking seasons – Salah didn’t just decorate Liverpool’s modern era, he defined it.
Then came the twist. Not Saudi Arabia. Not Serie A. Trabzonspor.
Why Trabzonspor – and why now?
For years, Saudi clubs circled. Liverpool once batted away a £150m bid from Al Ittihad. When Salah gave that explosive interview after being dropped at Leeds, the smart money said he would finally cash in and head to the Pro League.
Instead, he has chosen a different calculation.
Sky Sports News’ Kaveh Solhekol outlined the logic from Salah’s side: the numbers work. Reports in Turkey suggest wages of around £15m per year, wrapped in a tax system that is notably friendly to professional footballers. That alone would turn heads.
But this is not just about the pay packet. The Turkish Super Lig offers a fierce, fevered environment, with big games, combustible atmospheres and a culture that treats football as a way of life. Trabzonspor, with their intense fanbase on the Black Sea coast, fit that profile perfectly.
There is also Europe. Trabzonspor are well placed for a Europa League campaign next season, and for a player who has spent the last decade under the Champions League lights, that matters. The stage might be smaller, the anthem different, but the stakes remain high enough to keep the competitive fire burning.
“It ticks a lot of boxes for him,” Solhekol noted, adding that Salah had “lots of other options” on the table. That simple phrase hints at a key truth: this was a choice, not a last resort.
Carragher: ‘He’s better than that’
Not everyone is convinced.
Jamie Carragher, never shy of a firm opinion on Liverpool greats, questioned the move and the level Salah has chosen.
“I never believed he was going to go to Saudi, because number one, he’s too good for that,” Carragher said. “I think he can be playing in Serie A. Turkey for me feels a level too low.”
Carragher admitted he had Salah pencilled in for one more run at the European elite – “AC Milan or Juventus or somewhere like that” – a final act at a “real prestigious club”, in his words. The idea of Salah driving out at San Siro, chasing more goals, more records, seemed the natural next step for a player he likened to Cristiano Ronaldo in sheer obsession with numbers and legacy.
Instead, the forward has landed in a league Carragher believes sits beneath his talent.
“Obviously his wage demands have put a few people off,” Carragher added, suggesting the financial package may have scared off the Italian giants. He even floated the notion that Salah might have needed to “curb those demands a little bit” to land at the kind of club that matched his status.
“Turkey just feels like… I just think he’s better than that,” was Carragher’s blunt conclusion.
Legacy secure, motives debated
Strip it back, and the picture is clear. Salah has chosen a project where he will be the undisputed star, richly paid, adored by a fanbase that will treat him as a saviour, and still able to test himself in European competition.
He could have chased the biggest possible badge on his chest. He has instead opted for control, comfort, and a different kind of challenge.
For Liverpool, the chapter is closed. For Saudi Arabia, the one that got away. For Serie A, a missed opportunity.
For Trabzonspor and the Turkish Super Lig, though, this is a statement. A player who once commanded a £150m bid, a forward who terrorised Premier League defences for nearly a decade, is about to walk into some of the most hostile, deafening stadiums in Europe wearing claret and blue.
If Carragher is right and Salah is “better than that”, the answer will come quickly enough.
How long before Turkey feels too small for a player who has spent his career stretching the limits of every stage he steps on?
