Mohamed Salah's Move to Trabzonspor: A Waste of Talent?
Jamie Carragher did not bother dressing it up. For him, Mohamed Salah’s move to Trabzonspor is a waste of a still-elite footballer.
Speaking on the Football Ramble, the former Liverpool defender laid bare his disbelief that the 34-year-old has walked away from Europe’s traditional power base to join a side that finished third in the Turkish Super Lig last season.
“I never believed he was going to go to Saudi, because number one, he's too good for that,” Carragher said. “I think he can be playing in Serie A. Turkey for me feels a level too low.”
That line cuts to the heart of his argument. In Carragher’s eyes, a player of Salah’s stature should be following the Cristiano Ronaldo template: clinging to the highest stage for as long as his body allows, chasing records and nights that still echo around the game. Not cashing in, not yet.
I was convinced he’d end up at AC Milan or Juventus
Carragher admitted he had mapped out a very different final act for the “Egyptian King”.
He expected Salah to walk into a historic Italian institution, to pull on the shirt of AC Milan or Juventus, to stride out at San Siro with the same ruthless focus that defined his Liverpool years.
“I was convinced he'd end up at an AC Milan or Juventus or somewhere like that, maybe his wages were a problem,” he said. “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.”
That comparison is telling. Carragher sees Salah as a numbers addict, a forward who lives for goals, assists, records – the cold metrics that separate the great from the very good. From that standpoint, Turkey feels like a dimmer stage.
“I thought, he can still do this in Turkey by the way,” Carragher continued, “but I thought he'd want to play at a real prestigious club.”
Prestige vs payday
The core of his criticism is simple: visibility and competitive edge traded for money and comfort.
Trabzonspor, for their part, have moved aggressively. Reports suggest the club assembled a lucrative package worth around €17 million per year to bring Salah to the Black Sea coast. It is the kind of contract that instantly alters any player’s calculations, especially after he recently walked away from a £400,000-a-week deal at Liverpool.
Carragher, though, believes the forward should have bent, not broken, on salary to stay at the top.
“Obviously his wage demands have put a few people off,” he said, “but I thought he might almost curb those demands a little bit to almost get a better club.
“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.”
Trabzonspor will be in the Europa League next season, a respectable platform and one that still offers European nights. Carragher’s issue lies with the weekly grind. He views the domestic level as beneath a player who has spent the last seven years terrorising Premier League defences and deciding Champions League ties.
A new kingdom in the north
Salah, though, looks anything but reluctant.
The scenes at Istanbul Atatürk Airport told their own story. A frenzy of cameras, flags, flares. Chants for a player who had not yet kicked a ball in the country. The reception bordered on religious devotion – fitting for a man long dubbed the “Egyptian King” on Merseyside.
In Trabzon, he will not walk alone either. He is set to reunite with familiar Premier League faces, including Manchester United loanee Andre Onana and former Manchester City defender Stefan Savic. It is a dressing room being built with European experience in mind, not just domestic dominance.
And the stakes are clear. Trabzonspor last lifted the Super Lig title in 2022. Since then, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce have reasserted their power. The gap has widened. The club’s hierarchy are betting heavily that Salah’s goals, aura and professionalism can drag them back into that conversation and keep them there.
He leaves Liverpool with every major trophy ticked off: Premier League, Champions League, domestic cups, a personal highlight reel that will run for decades. A legend, sealed.
Carragher may never accept the route Salah has chosen. But in a corner of northern Turkey, a club and a fanbase are convinced this is not a step down at all – it is the start of something they expect to end with another title parade.
