Mohamed Salah's Transfer to Trabzonspor: A New Chapter Begins
Mohamed Salah’s Liverpool era is over. Not with a farewell tour or a last dance in red, but with a sharp turn east, into the noise and colour of the Black Sea coast.
The 34-year-old has chosen Trabzonspor. Not Besiktas. Not Al-Ittihad. Not a late-career glide through Serie A. A club that finished third in the Super Lig last season, a city where football is a civic religion, and where the number on his back will matter almost as much as the goals he scores.
From Anfield icon to Black Sea gamble
Salah has arrived in Turkey ahead of completing a free transfer, with only his medical and contract signing left before the move becomes official. On paper, he could have stayed at Liverpool until 2027. In reality, both player and club decided this summer was the moment to cut the cord.
His final campaign at Anfield was his poorest in nine years. Liverpool scraped into the Champions League; Salah, once the unstoppable spearhead of Jurgen Klopp’s machine, looked more mortal than mythical. The numbers dipped, the edge dulled, and the sense grew that the story had run its course.
So he walks away with his legacy secured, but his trajectory in question.
Following a familiar path – with a warning attached
If the destination feels surprising, the route is not unprecedented. Salah is following a trail once trodden by Daniel Sturridge, another Liverpool forward whose brilliance lit up Anfield before fading under the weight of time and injury.
Sturridge signed for Trabzonspor in 2019 on a three-year deal. It looked like a fresh start. He scored seven goals in 16 appearances, flashes of the old sharpness still there. Yet the partnership ended abruptly when both parties agreed to terminate his contract early. A brief, intriguing chapter, closed before it could become a full story.
Sturridge’s journey is a reminder that Turkey can be both stage and crossroads. After leaving Trabzonspor, he headed to Perth Glory in the A-League for the 2021/22 season. The move never caught fire. Fitness issues delayed his first training session until November, a groin injury in February cut into what little rhythm he had, and he finished with just six appearances, one start, no goals. Perth chief executive Tony Pignata later called the move “disappointing”, and new manager Ruben Zadkovich released him the following June.
For Salah, that cautionary tale sits in the background. Another former Liverpool forward, another leap into a new world. But the stakes are different. Sturridge arrived in Turkey as a player trying to resurrect a career. Salah arrives as a legend trying to extend one.
The pull of Trabzon – and the power of 61
Trabzonspor offers him more than a final payday. The club is chasing a place in the Europa League for the 2026/27 campaign, provided it can navigate the qualifying rounds. It is a team that expects to compete, a fanbase that demands heroes.
Salah will not wear the number that defined him in England. Liverpool’s No. 11 is taken at Trabzonspor by Ozan Tufan. His international number, 10, is already on the back of Ernest Muci. So the club did something different. It leaned into the city.
Images have already emerged of Salah in the No. 61 shirt. To outsiders, it’s an unusual choice. To Trabzon, it is loaded with meaning. The number is the city’s license plate code, a badge of local identity that runs far deeper than a standard squad number. It is the kind of shirt that says: you are not just passing through; you are ours now.
The number appears to have played a role in his decision. For a player who became a symbol in Liverpool, the chance to carry another city’s emblem on his back may have carried its own quiet appeal.
A new chapter, with old expectations
Salah leaves behind a Liverpool career that belongs in the club’s modern pantheon. Nine years, a Champions League, a Premier League title, and a goalscoring record that places him alongside the greats. His partnership with others – not least the echoes of what Sturridge once had with Luis Suarez – helped define an era of relentless attacking football.
Sturridge himself scored 67 goals in 160 appearances during six-and-a-half years at Anfield, forming that devastating duo with Suarez before injuries took their toll. Salah, fitter for longer and more durable, pushed even further, becoming the face of Liverpool’s resurgence under Klopp.
Now he steps into a different kind of pressure. Trabzon is not Liverpool, but it is not a quiet backwater either. If Trabzonspor reaches the Europa League group stage, Salah will find himself back under European lights, leading a club that craves nights like those.
He could have chosen comfort. He chose noise, expectation and a shirt number that ties him directly to the people in the stands.
The Anfield chapter is closed. The question now is simple: is this the final act of a great career, or the start of an unexpected encore on the Black Sea?
