Mohamed Salah Joins Trabzonspor After Liverpool Exit
Mohamed Salah has drawn a bold line under his Liverpool career, joining Turkish side Trabzonspor on a free transfer and signing a two-year deal that will drag one of the Premier League era’s great forwards into an entirely new landscape.
His departure from Anfield, confirmed after a mutual agreement to terminate his contract a year early, ends a nine-year spell that redefined Liverpool’s modern identity. The agreement sliced short terms that were due to run until April 2025, but by the end of last season the relationship had clearly shifted. A difficult campaign, a high-profile dropping, and a public fallout with then-head coach Arne Slot left the sense that the story had already reached its final chapter.
He leaves as one of Liverpool’s giants. Seven major trophies on the board. Third on the club’s all-time scoring list. An extraordinary 257 goals in 442 games, numbers that place him alongside the most ruthless forwards to have worn red on Merseyside. The goals were not just frequent; they were decisive, often the difference between another nearly season and a trophy parade.
And yet the next step is not Saudi Arabia, not Serie A, not the superclub circuit many assumed would come calling. It is Trabzon.
Why Turkey, and why now?
For years, Saudi Arabia hovered in the background of Salah’s future. Clubs there circled, and the money on offer was no secret. Less than three years ago, Liverpool turned down a £150m bid from Al Ittihad, a figure that underlined how fiercely they intended to keep him. When Salah delivered a bombshell interview after being dropped at Leeds last season, the assumption hardened: the next move would be to the Gulf.
Instead, he has chosen the Black Sea coast and a Trabzonspor side that believes it can offer him something different.
From Turkey, the picture looks clear. The deal is lucrative, with reports suggesting wages of around £15m per year. The country’s tax environment is notably favourable for professional footballers, giving that headline salary even more weight. On top of that comes the promise of a league that still crackles with intensity, bitter rivalries and packed, volatile stadiums.
There is also Europe. Trabzonspor are well placed for a Europa League campaign next season, and that matters. For a player who has lived most of his peak years under the Champions League lights, the chance to stay in continental competition carries weight, even if it is not at the absolute summit.
As Sky Sports News’ Kaveh Solhekol outlined, the move “ticks a lot of boxes” for Salah. The money, the tax, the competition, the atmosphere. He had other options. He chose this.
Carragher’s verdict: “He’s better than that”
Not everyone is convinced.
Jamie Carragher, who watched Salah’s Liverpool career from the pundit’s chair, did not hide his surprise at the destination. For him, the forward still belongs in the game’s inner circle.
Carragher never believed Saudi Arabia was the right move, not at this stage. “He’s too good for that,” he argued, pointing instead to Serie A as the natural fit. Names like AC Milan and Juventus felt logical to him, clubs with global reach, rich history and the kind of stage a player like Salah has earned.
Turkey, in his eyes, sits a rung below. A league of passion and noise, yes, but not one of the true European heavyweights.
He floated the obvious tension: salary versus status. Salah’s wage demands may have cooled interest from those Italian giants. Carragher suggested that if Salah had been willing to soften those demands, doors at clubs like Milan or Juventus might have opened. The idea of him walking out at San Siro, still competing in the biggest games, still carving up Europe’s elite, felt more in keeping with the forward’s ferocious drive.
Carragher likened Salah’s mentality to Cristiano Ronaldo’s – numbers, goals, records, the relentless pursuit of more. He acknowledged that Salah can still post those numbers in Turkey, but the question lingered: at what level, and on what stage?
“Turkey just feels like… I just think he’s better than that,” Carragher concluded, a blunt assessment that will echo with many who watched Salah dominate the Premier League for almost a decade.
A new stage for an old killer
Strip away the emotion and the debate, and the facts remain stark. A 34-year-old forward, still a prolific scorer, has left one of the world’s biggest clubs on a free and chosen a league where he will be the undisputed star. He will earn handsomely. He will play in front of feverish crowds. He will almost certainly score a lot of goals.
For Liverpool, the Salah era is over. For Trabzonspor, it is just beginning.
The only question now is whether this move becomes a coda to a glittering career, or the start of a final act that forces Europe to look towards Turkey once more.
