Salah Joins Trabzonspor On Two-Year Deal
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- Mohamed Salah signed a two-year deal with Trabzonspor on Thursday after his Liverpool contract expired, choosing to stay in European football over Saudi Arabia and MLS destinations where Al-Ittihad and Sporting Kansas City were among the suitors.
- Trabzonspor confirmed via a posting to the Turkish stock exchange that Salah will earn £14.5m per season and receive a 20% share of revenue from Salah-branded merchandise (separate Turkish media reports cite a £7.3m base salary with bonuses added).
- Trabzonspor are seven-time Turkish champions who finished third in the Super Lig last season and lifted the Turkish Cup, earning a place in this month's Europa League play-offs.
- At his unveiling, Salah briefly wore a symbolic number 61 shirt representing Trabzon's vehicle registration code, then agreed to wear number 10 in 2026-27 after teammate Ernest Muci relinquished the jersey as a gesture of respect.
- Salah's competitive debut could come on 15 August when Trabzonspor open their Super Lig campaign at Kasimpasa, followed by a Europa League play-off against either Hungary's Ferencvaros or Poland's Gornik Zabrze.
- Opta currently ranks the Turkish Super Lig as the 14th strongest domestic league in world football, and only one Turkish side has reached a major Uefa semi-final since Galatasaray won the Uefa Cup in 2000.
- In his final Liverpool season, Salah scored 12 goals across all competitions after falling out of favour under Arne Slot as the defending champions slipped to fifth, a sharp drop from 34 goals and 23 assists the prior title-winning campaign.
Why it matters: Salah rejected reportedly higher offers from Saudi Arabia and MLS to stay in European competition, taking what Turkish reports describe as a below-Saudi salary to join a league Opta ranks 14th in the world. For Trabzonspor — not one of the Istanbul giants — landing one of football's most marketable modern stars delivers the biggest commercial and profile coup in club history, with merchandise revenue and global visibility tied directly to his name.
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