Inside Mohamed Salah’s €17m Trabzonspor Hijack
Beşiktaş spent weeks trying to build a financial model around Mohamed Salah. Then the talks stalled, Trabzonspor stepped in and the Egyptian ended up on the Black Sea.
That is the twist that makes Salah’s move to Turkey so much more interesting than another big-name free transfer.
The Egyptian forward has signed a two-year deal with Trabzonspor after leaving Liverpool at the end of the 2025-26 season. He arrived in Istanbul on August 5 to a crowd of supporters, wearing the club’s burgundy and blue, before completing the move the following day.
The money is eye-catching too. Reuters reports that Salah will earn €17 million ($19.6 million) per season, with performance-related bonuses and a 20% share of merchandise sold under his name. That puts his guaranteed salary above the €15 million annual wage disclosed by Galatasaray for Victor Osimhen.
⚽🤝 Mohamed Salah has signed a two-year deal with Trabzonspor, under which the Egyptian forward will receive 17 million euros ($19.6 million) a season.
— Sportstar (@sportstarweb) August 6, 2026
👉 The club’s statement to the Turkish stock exchange said that Salah will receive a 20% share from products… pic.twitter.com/0kavXudvNX
But the numbers only tell part of the story. The real surprise is where Salah has landed.
For Trabzonspor, this is a statement. For Beşiktaş, it is a transfer they missed out on. For the Süper Lig, it is another reminder that the league can still pull in football’s biggest names.
Beşiktaş Opened the Door
Salah’s route to Trabzon started with a deal that Beşiktaş could not finish.
The Istanbul club had held three meetings with the Egyptian before negotiations reached the financial stage.
Then the tone changed. The club’s sporting director, Önder Özen, said the discussions had been smooth, while the financial details were still off the table. Once that part of the negotiation began, the process slowed and demands emerged that made the deal difficult to move forward.
Beşiktaş eventually walked away. Özen said the club would not make another offer.
“The president has taken an unpopular decision, and has decided to withdraw temporarily from the negotiating table in the Salah deal,” he said.
That did not mean Salah had rejected Turkey. It meant the door was still open for another Turkish club to make a different calculation.
Trabzonspor made it. And they did not waste time to seal the deal.
Trabzonspor Saw the Opening
Trabzonspor announced on August 4 that it had started negotiations with Salah. Two days later, the deal was done.
President Ertuğrul Doğan had spent 10 days in direct talks with Salah’s camp as the club pushed to get the agreement over the line. By August 5, Salah was in Istanbul. By August 6, he was officially a Trabzonspor player.
The club waited for the Beşiktaş talks to lose momentum, stepped in and finished the job. In football transfers, that is often how a deal changes hands.
One club spends weeks negotiating. Another club finds the opening. The player then ends up somewhere nobody expected.
This Is Not Just Any Turkish Club
To understand why the move has caused such a stir in Turkey, you have to understand Trabzonspor.
The club comes from Trabzon, a city on Turkey’s Black Sea coast where football carries a little more political and cultural weight than a weekend result.
Trabzonspor broke the Istanbul monopoly on the Turkish league in 1975-76, becoming the first club from outside Istanbul to win the title. The achievement helped create the identity that still follows the club: proud, regional and suspicious of a football system historically dominated by Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş.
That history is part of the attraction of this transfer.
Salah did not join one of the familiar Istanbul giants. He joined the club that has spent decades trying to challenge them.
When Salah appeared in the club’s colours after arriving in Turkey, the welcome was not the quiet reception reserved for a player arriving to complete paperwork. Thousands turned out for his unveiling in Trabzon.
The message was clear enough: this was not just another signing. The city had gotten its superstar.
Salah and Osimhen Have Changed the Conversation
Osimhen’s move to Galatasaray had already given the Süper Lig one of Africa’s biggest stars. Salah has now raised the volume.
Salah’s reported €17 million net salary makes him one of the biggest earners in Turkish football. His two-year salary alone would amount to €34 million ($39.2 million), before bonuses and the merchandise arrangement are considered.
Galatasaray disclosed that Osimhen earns €15 million in guaranteed net salary each season, plus a €1 million loyalty bonus and €5 million for image rights. So Salah’s salary is higher than Osimhen’s guaranteed salary, but it is not enough on its own to compare the players’ entire packages as though the contracts are structured identically.
There is a difference between the two players.
Osimhen arrived in Turkey at 26, after becoming one of Europe’s most sought-after strikers. Salah arrives at 34 after nine seasons at Liverpool and with a CV that already places him among the club’s modern greats.
Liverpool’s records show 257 goals in 442 appearances for the Egyptian. He leaves Anfield with two Premier League titles, the Champions League, the FIFA Club World Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, the FA Cup and two League Cups. He also won four Premier League Golden Boots.
Those numbers explain why his arrival feels slightly surreal.
A player who spent nearly a decade playing in front of packed Premier League stadiums and competing for the biggest prizes in Europe is now preparing to lead Trabzonspor into another season.
Salah Still Wanted European Football
There was an easier route available to Salah. Saudi Arabia could have offered the kind of money that makes a late-career move difficult to ignore, and MLS clubs had been linked with the Egyptian too. Instead, Salah chose to stay in Europe with Trabzonspor.
The club finished third in the 2025–26 Süper Lig and won the Turkish Cup, earning a place in the Europa League play-off round. Salah is therefore not moving into a league where European football disappears from the picture. He is joining a club that has domestic ambition and a route into UEFA competition.
At 34, Salah could have taken the familiar late-career route: leave Europe, collect a huge contract and join a league built around established global stars. He has chosen something more competitive instead.
Salah will be leading a team that wants to challenge Turkey’s biggest clubs while competing in Europe. Trabzonspor gives him a chance to do that in a league where he can be the main attraction.
It also explains why Türkiye makes more sense than it might have appeared at first. Salah gets the money of a major late-career move without giving up European football.
For a player who has spent nine years competing at the highest level, that may have been the deciding factor.
What Does Salah Actually Give Trabzonspor?
Salah will obviously score goals for the team. His career has shown that. But he also gives Trabzonspor attention that is difficult to buy.
His name reaches Egypt, the wider Arab world, Africa and the global audience he built during his Liverpool years. Every Trabzonspor match involving Salah becomes more visible. Every shirt carrying his name becomes a piece of the club’s new commercial story.
That does not automatically mean every shirt will sell or that every sponsor will suddenly arrive. But the opportunity is obvious.
Trabzonspor have taken one of the most recognisable footballers in the world and put him in their colours.
The club now has to turn that attention into something sustainable.
Trabzonspor is building around a squad that combines young players with experienced names and is now adding one of the most decorated African players of his generation.
A New Home for Africa’s Biggest Stars?
There is a bigger African story developing in Türkiye.
Victor Osimhen finished the 2024/25 Süper Lig season as its top scorer with 26 goals. A year later, another Nigerian striker, Paul Onuachu, finished joint top with 22 goals for Trabzonspor. Now Salah is arriving in the same league.
🇳🇬🏆 Paul Onuachu (31) won the Turkish Cup with Trabzonspor! 🟣🔵✅
— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) May 24, 2026
He had a great campaign, finishing joint top goalscorer in the Turkish league too.
Onuachu scored a total of 26 goals for Trabzonspor this season. 🥇👏 pic.twitter.com/vnV1zGAumJ
That does not mean Türkiye has become the new destination for Africa’s biggest footballers. Osimhen, Onuachu and Salah have taken very different paths and arrived at different points in their careers. But this says something about the pulling power of the Süper Lig. Turkish clubs are now capable of putting African stars at the centre of their biggest sporting and commercial projects.
There is another layer to Salah’s move. Beşiktaş had Salah in the room. It explored a way to make the deal work. Then the financial discussions became difficult and Beşiktaş stepped back.
That is football’s transfer window in one story. The club that hesitates loses the player. The club that sees the opening takes the gamble.
Now Trabzonspor has the Egyptian captain. The Black Sea has its superstar.
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