Salah and Núñez Reunited in Trabzonspor
Mohamed Salah and Darwin Núñez are on the brink of an unexpected reunion in a very different shade of blue. Not at Anfield. Not in Riyadh. In Trabzon.
According to Saudi newspaper Al-Yaum, relaying reports from Turkish outlet Sözcü, Al-Hilal have agreed to send Núñez to Trabzonspor on a season-long loan, a move that would see the Uruguayan line up again alongside Salah after their turbulent yet compelling spell together at Liverpool.
This time, though, the hierarchy shifts. Núñez will be the higher earner.
The deal, as reported, is striking. Núñez will retain the full salary he enjoys at Al-Hilal: 22 million euros for the season. That figure eclipses Salah’s Trabzonspor wage by 5 million, with the Egyptian reportedly on 17 million euros.
Trabzonspor will not shoulder the entire burden. The Turkish club are expected to pay 8 million euros of Núñez’s salary, leaving Al-Hilal to cover the remaining 14 million. It is a clear sign of how eager the Saudi side are to move him on after a difficult first year.
Núñez arrived in Riyadh with heavy expectations and a reputation forged in Europe, but the spark never truly caught. He struggled through the first half of last season, then disappeared from the domestic squad list altogether in the second. For a club chasing instant impact and global headlines, patience was short.
So the exit door opens, and with it a second act alongside Salah.
Their first stint together came at Liverpool between 2022 and 2025, a period defined far more by Salah’s enduring brilliance than by Núñez’s raw promise. While the Uruguayan battled for consistency and confidence, Salah remained the reference point, the man who dragged Liverpool through title races and big European nights.
During that time, Salah cemented his status as Liverpool’s standout star, central to the club lifting the Premier League for only the second time in their history and the first after a five-year wait. He was the constant. The guarantee.
That chapter is now closed. Salah’s own move to Trabzonspor earlier this summer on a two-year deal drew the curtain on a nine-year Liverpool story that began in 2017 and reshaped the club’s modern identity. From Merseyside icon to Black Sea talisman, he arrives in Turkey as a legend in transition, still with goals to score and standards to set.
Now, if Núñez’s loan is finalised as reported, the pair will walk into the same dressing room once again, but into a very different dynamic. Salah, the established superstar and cultural figurehead. Núñez, the high-earning reclamation project with something to prove, backed financially by a club that no longer wants him on the pitch but is still paying most of his wages.
For Trabzonspor, it is a bold play. Salah brings status, goals and instant credibility. Núñez brings pace, chaos and the possibility of a renaissance if the environment clicks. For Al-Hilal, it is a release valve, a way to clear space in a squad where Núñez never truly fit.
The reunion is loaded with narrative. At Liverpool, Salah was the finished article and Núñez the work in progress trying to keep up. In Trabzon, the Uruguayan arrives as the better-paid man, but still chasing the level Salah has lived at for years.
If the deal goes through as outlined, one question will hang over the Black Sea all season: can Núñez finally match the stage that Salah has already mastered, or will this partnership once again belong, unmistakably, to the Egyptian?
