Mohamed Salah's Move to Trabzonspor: A Step Down or New Empire?
Jamie Carragher did not bother to dress it up. For him, Mohamed Salah’s leap from Liverpool legend to Trabzonspor marquee signing is a move that sells short one of the defining forwards of his era.
Speaking on the Football Ramble, the former Liverpool defender admitted he was stunned the 34-year-old chose Turkey over one of Europe’s traditional power leagues.
“I never believed he was going to go to Saudi, because number one, he's too good for that. I think he can be playing in Serie A. Turkey for me feels a level too low,” Carragher said, laying bare his disbelief that Salah has stepped away from the sharpest edge of the European game.
“Too good for that” – Carragher’s Serie A vision
Carragher’s frustration is not aimed at Trabzonspor as much as at the idea of Salah, still a prolific, hyper-driven forward, no longer testing himself week in, week out against the very best. In his mind, there was a clear path.
He thought Salah would follow the Cristiano Ronaldo blueprint: cling to the highest stage for as long as his body and numbers allowed, trading on status and output at a “prestigious” club, not dropping down a rung while he still looks capable of deciding big nights.
Carragher was convinced the story would end in Italy.
“I was convinced he'd end up at an AC Milan or Juventus or somewhere like that, maybe his wages were a problem,” he admitted. “I don't know him, obviously have never spoken to him. But he's like Ronaldo, he's so driven, his numbers mean so much to him. I thought, he can still do this in Turkey by the way, but I thought he'd want to play at a real prestigious club.”
In Carragher’s eyes, the move to Trabzon is not about football romance or a new challenge. It is about a player accepting a lower competitive ceiling when he did not need to.
Prestige vs payday
The core of Carragher’s criticism sits there. He believes Salah has traded the glare of the elite for a lucrative comfort zone. Reports in Turkey suggest Trabzonspor have assembled a package worth around €17 million per year to tempt the “Egyptian King” to the Black Sea coast. A massive coup for them, a jarring choice for those who expected him to squeeze every last drop from his prime on the biggest stages.
This is a player who only recently walked away from a £400,000-a-week offer at Liverpool. That decision hinted at a man still hungry for the highest level, not one ready to drift into a softer schedule.
Trabzonspor will be in the Europa League next season, which at least keeps Salah in continental competition. For Carragher, that is not enough.
“Obviously his wage demands have put a few people off but I thought he might almost curb those demands a little bit to almost get a better club,” he continued. “To go to an AC Milan or Juventus or whoever it may be, play at the San Siro, still playing in big games, still playing in Europe. Turkey just feels like... I just think he's better than that.”
The daily grind of the Super Lig, he argues, cannot match the intensity and scrutiny of Serie A, the Premier League, or La Liga. For a player obsessed with numbers, records, and legacy, Carragher expected a different battlefield.
A king in a new kingdom
Trabzonspor, though, see the move very differently. For them, this is a statement of intent. They finished third in the Super Lig last season; now they are betting heavily that Salah can drag them back to the title they last claimed in 2022 and close the gap on Galatasaray and Fenerbahce.
The scenes at Istanbul Atatürk Airport underlined exactly what he represents. The reception bordered on religious fervour. If Carragher worries about prestige, the people greeting Salah in Turkey see only a superstar descending into their world.
On the pitch, he will not be alone. Salah will reunite with familiar Premier League faces, including Manchester United loanee Andre Onana and former Manchester City defender Stefan Savic. The dressing room will not feel like a retirement home; it will feel like a team being built around his aura and output.
And whatever Carragher thinks of the level, Salah does not arrive as a fading name. He leaves Liverpool having won every major trophy available: the Premier League, the Champions League, domestic cups, a Club World Cup. He departs Anfield as a legend, his numbers and moments etched into the club’s modern identity.
Now he swaps that for the steep, fervent stands of Trabzon, the expectation of a city desperate to reclaim its place at the top, and a league where he will be both target and talisman every weekend.
Carragher may see a step down. Trabzonspor see the man who could change their history. The question that lingers is simple: in a year’s time, will Salah’s choice look like a soft landing, or the start of a new empire on the Black Sea?
