Mohamed Salah agrees two-year move to Trabzonspor as club recalls 1976 Liverpool trip
On 5 August 2026 Mohamed Salah agreed to spend the next two years at Trabzonspor and was greeted in Trabzon by large numbers of supporters, a transfer confirmed by the club’s president Ertugrul Dogan.
The announcement comes as this October will mark the 50th anniversary of Liverpool’s first meeting with Trabzonspor in the second round of the European Cup in 1976, a trip remembered in stark terms by Liverpool figures at the time. Bob Paisley described the team hotel as a “doss house”, called the ball “a pig’s bladder” that “was not good enough for blow football” and said he’d had “better rations in my bivvy in the Western Desert”. The club had sent someone to inspect the hotel before the trip; that booking was cancelled and the team was moved to an alternate hotel half a mile away. David Fairclough recalled that “the hotel turned out to be right next to a prayer tower” that used “a very basic public address system that wailed out across the town”, and Ray Clemence labelled it “the worst European trip” he ever went on, adding “The pitch had rocks all over it,” and “The hotel was awful. We were woken by the noise of farm animals at 5am.” Liverpool lost the away leg 1-0, then overturned the tie at Anfield and went on to beat Borussia Mönchengladbach in the European Cup final the following May.
Lonely Planet now describes Trabzon as “the most sophisticated city in the region” while warning it is “somewhat louche”, and the club’s recent arrivals have attracted large crowds: supporters packed the airport to welcome Salah and previously mobbed the airport when Paul ‘Tall Paul’ Onuachu arrived on loan from Southampton. Ertugrul Dogan spoke to the media confirming the Salah move, beginning with, “There’s nothing to say about Mohamed Salah,” and then adding, “He’s a global superstar,” “We needed a player like him. Trabzonspor’s recent success is the talk of Türkiye and of Europe. We are trying to send a message to everyone that Trabzonspor can bring whoever it wants to Trabzon.”
The club’s recent domestic form was cited as part of the attraction: Trabzonspor finished third last season behind Galatasaray and Fenerbahce and did win the Turkish Cup. Financial terms reported in the piece included a promise of €17m a year plus arrangements on image rights and a percentage of kit sales, which the article said may have influenced the move. Karadeniz Gazetesi sent a reporter to assess local reaction, and one fan told the paper, “We couldn’t sleep because of the excitement,” adding, “I know there are millions of fans like me around the world. He is a footballer and a global brand. I believe he can add much more to Trabzon’s brand value.”
Another supporter quoted by the paper said: “This is a huge transfer. The whole world will be talking about us. I immediately went and bought a jersey.” The article noted those street-level reactions alongside the club’s statement and the reported financial package offered to Salah.
The piece observed that the signing appeared to generate palpable local enthusiasm and wrote: “It’s certainly a beautiful sentiment, bringing a tear to Football Daily’s eye. Early indications are however that this deal might work out very well indeed, for Salah at least.”
Salah’s arrival is confirmed as a two-year deal with Trabzonspor and follows the club’s recent domestic cup success and third-place league finish; the move was publicly announced by president Ertugrul Dogan and met with enthusiastic local response.