Mohamed Salah’s road to playing in Turkey may effectively have started with a spell on the bench against Turkish opposition. Two months before he appeared to bring his Liverpool FC career to a close with the explosive remarks in which he said he had been thrown under the bus, there had already been an early sign that he was no longer an automatic starter.
Salah was left out of the starting line-up for the Champions League defeat against Galatasaray in September. His brief appearance was notable because it marked the first time — even if only for six minutes — that Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and the Egyptian were all on the pitch together. However, Arne Slot’s starting XI that night also foreshadowed Salah being dropped again in November. In turn, that became an indirect step towards his return to Turkey, his move to Trabzonspor, and the euphoric welcome he received at Istanbul Airport on Wednesday.
It is not merely recency bias to suggest that Salah will be the most eye-catching signing in Trabzonspor’s history. Even so, it may feel harsh to consider how dramatically his standing has fallen within a year. In the summer of 2025, after a campaign in which he scored 29 Premier League goals and supplied 18 assists, his availability on a free transfer would surely have been expected to attract a more illustrious destination than Turkey’s fourth-biggest club.
Mohamed Salah’s move to Trabzonspor represents a sharp comedown from Liverpool.
Yet he was swarmed by supporters during his unveiling at the club.
Even so, Salah in Turkey brings a sense of fascination. He will be an unusual figure in a side that includes Sidny Lopes Cabral, the Cape Verde international who scored the goal of the World Cup, the exiled and unpredictable Andre Onana, and “tall Paul” Onuachu, who had a brief spell at Southampton but has been prolific in Belgium and Turkey. What the squad does not have, however, is many players with the quality of Salah’s former Liverpool team-mates.
His arrival can also be viewed as part of a wider shift in football’s balance, with Turkish clubs, helped by Salah’s reported salary of €17m a year, now capable of outbidding some rivals in France, Spain, Germany and Italy for players. The Turkish league already features Victor Osimhen, Ilkay Gundogan, Leroy Sane, Ederson and Leandro Trossard. Yet only Osimhen is below 30, and Turkey is increasingly acquiring the image of a highly rewarding retirement destination for ageing footballers.
Although Salah believed he had been badly treated by Arne Slot at Anfield last season, none of Liverpool’s peer clubs moved for him. It is understood that the Egyptian’s representatives sounded out his former club Roma. Without a move to one of the traditional elite, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that those clubs believe his finest years are now suddenly well behind him.
The relationship between Salah and Arne Slot had worsened as the season progressed.
Perhaps, though, his latest performance against Turkish opposition suggests he can still be a major force in the Super Lig. Salah turned back the clock for a brilliant 15-minute spell as he tore Galatasaray apart at Anfield in March. That may be an encouraging sign for his Trabzonspor future. However, the following tie against Paris Saint-Germain, in which he was disappointingly ineffective, could prove to be his final appearance in the Champions League. Trabzonspor finished third in the Super Lig last season and should therefore compete in the Europa League. If they lose a play-off against Ferencvaros or Gornik Zabrze, though, they would drop into the Conference League instead.
It is also significant that Salah opted to remain in European football, even if not technically in Europe. Sporting Kansas City were also in the race for his signature. As the highest-profile Arab footballer in the world, there had long been an assumption that he might head to Saudi Arabia. However, although Al-Ittihad submitted a £150m offer in 2023, it came right at the end of a summer of Saudi spending, well after earlier targets had already been pursued. There has also rarely been a feeling that Saudi Arabia was ever Salah’s dream move, even before the war in nearby Iran may have made the option less attractive. The fact that Turkey is an Islamic country, and relatively close to Egypt, may well have influenced his thinking, especially when compared with the long trip to Kansas City.
The likelihood is that Salah’s departure from Liverpool was softened by a pay-off to cover the final year of a lucrative contract. But a significant part of his huge commercial earnings was made possible by the profile Liverpool gave him. Beyond the passion of Trabzonspor’s supporters, the club does not command anything like the same global draw. That was one reason to wonder whether Salah might have preferred a move to a club in one of Europe’s top five leagues, or at least one in the Champions League, in order to preserve a higher level of prominence.
Andoni Iraola replaced Slot at Liverpool, but that still did not lead to a rethink over Salah.
It is equally striking that the change of regime at Anfield did not alter Liverpool’s position. Slot’s dismissal may have become more likely because of some of Salah’s comments. His Instagram post, published a week before the season ended, called for the return of “heavy-metal football”, and he may effectively have got that wish when Andoni Iraola was appointed. Even so, the draw with Brentford in May remained his final appearance for the club. It was another indication that Liverpool do not believe the old version of Salah is coming back.
The issue, however, is that while Liverpool probably always understood he was impossible to replace directly, they still have not replaced him at all. Realistically, they have had since at least the autumn to prepare for a summer signing, and the partial reconciliation in December always appeared to be only temporary.
Now, though, it is already August. Liverpool assembled a £100m package for Yan Diomande, but he is instead set to leave RB Leipzig for Real Madrid. So Salah has found his new club, while Liverpool are still without their new Salah.
