Mohamed Salah mobbed at Istanbul airport as Trabzonspor prepare to confirm signing
Mohamed Salah was mobbed by hundreds of fans at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on Wednesday as Turkish club Trabzonspor prepared to confirm his signing. The Egypt captain emerged wearing Trabzonspor colours and engaged with the excited crowd.
The 34-year-old forward left Liverpool at the end of last season after nine years on Merseyside, having scored 257 goals for the club. Mohamed Salah scored just seven Premier League goals in his final season at Liverpool. It is unclear what Salah will earn at Trabzonspor, but as he is a free agent, the Super Lig club will have been able to commit more of their budget towards Salah's wages. He became Liverpool's highest earner in their history when he signed a reported £400,000-a-week contract in April 2025.
Salah has scored 50 Champions League goals and will play European football with Trabzonspor next season after they finished third, eight points behind champions Galatasaray. If they fail to progress to the league phase of the Europa League via the play-offs, they will drop down to the Conference League.
During his time in England he helped Liverpool to win two Premier League titles, the Champions League, the Club World Cup, Uefa Super Cup, FA Cup and two EFL Cups. He won the Premier League Golden Boot on four occasions and was named the Professional Footballers' Association player of the year in 2018, 2022 and 2025. Despite scoring 29 goals and making 18 assists in Liverpool's 2024-25 title-winning season, Salah's minutes diminished the following campaign after a falling out with former Reds head coach Arne Slot.
After announcing he would be leaving Liverpool a year before his two-year contract extension ended, Salah was linked to Besiktas following a World Cup campaign in which Egypt reached the round of 16 before narrowly losing to Argentina. A reported deal with Besiktas broke down over finances and Salah reached an agreement with Trabzonspor instead. Trabzonspor teased his arrival on social media by showing the Pyramids next to Papara Park, then posted that "negotiations had begun" and displayed tracking of Salah's Wednesday flight into Istanbul. "Trabzon, are you ready? See you very soon," he said in a video onboard a private jet and posted on social media.
Trabzonspor's flight tracking coincided with hundreds of fans gathering outside the airport to welcome Salah, who was greeted like a movie star. Nicknamed the Black Sea Storm, Trabzonspor have won seven league titles, six of which came between 1976 and 1984, and their most recent title came in 2022, ending a 38-year wait. Based in the north-eastern city of Trabzon, they are one of only six teams to have won the Turkish Super Lig and their current squad includes on-loan Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana alongside Cape Verde World Cup players Wagner Pina and Sidny Lopes Cabral.
Salah's signing will go down as the club's biggest as he joins former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge and former Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe in donning the claret and sky blue shirt. Turkey's Super Lig has previously attracted global stars such as Roberto Carlos, Didier Drogba, Robin van Persie, Samuel Eto'o, Mesut Ozil and Wesley Sneijder. This season, supporters will be able to watch N'Golo Kante and Ederson at Fenerbahce; Victor Osimhen, Ilkay Gundogan and Leroy Sane at Galatasaray; and now Salah at Trabzonspor.
Trabzonspor are set to confirm the signing, which comes ahead of their European campaign next season; the club's continental status will be determined by their progress through the Europa League play-offs, with failure to reach the league phase resulting in a drop to the Conference League.
