Jamie Carragher Questions Mohamed Salah's Move to Trabzonspor

Jamie Carragher did not hide his disbelief.

The former Liverpool defender, speaking on the Football Ramble, admitted he was stunned that Mohamed Salah chose Trabzonspor and the Turkish Super Lig over what he sees as Europe’s traditional top table.

“I never believed he was going to go to Saudi, because number one, he's too good for that. I think he can be playing in Serie A. Turkey for me feels a level too low,” he said, laying bare a view that cuts against the celebrations in Trabzon.

“Too good for that”

For Carragher, this is not about romance or nostalgia. It is about status. About legacy. About a player he still considers one of the game’s elite stepping away from the sharpest edge of competition.

While he acknowledged that Trabzonspor have pulled off a “massive coup,” his disappointment is clear. In his mind, Salah should have followed the Cristiano Ronaldo route: remain at a “prestigious” institution, a club whose name still rattles around the latter stages of the Champions League.

Carragher admitted he expected the 34‑year‑old to land in Italy, at a club steeped in history, rather than at a side that finished third in the Super Lig last season.

“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. I thought, he can still do this in Turkey by the way, but I thought he'd want to play at a real prestigious club.”

That line is the heart of his argument: Salah, in Carragher’s eyes, belongs under the heaviest lights.

Prestige vs payday

The criticism turns on one central idea – that Salah is trading visibility and top‑level intensity for a lucrative final contract.

To get the deal done, Trabzonspor are reported to have assembled a package worth around €17 million per year. It is serious money, even for a player who recently walked away from a £400,000‑a‑week offer at Liverpool. Carragher suspects those demands helped close doors at the clubs he believes should have been queuing up.

“Obviously his wage demands have put a few people off but I thought he might almost curb those demands a little bit to almost get a better club,” he continued. “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 platform, yes, but not the one Carragher envisaged for a player whose numbers, trophies and consistency have defined an era at Anfield. For him, the “daily grind” of the Turkish league simply does not match the level of a forward who has terrorised Premier League defences for years.

A new kingdom in the north

On the shores of the Black Sea, none of that matters.

Salah has committed to the move and arrives in northern Turkey as a superstar, not a compromise. He will reunite with familiar Premier League faces – Manchester United loanee Andre Onana and former Manchester City defender Stefan Savic among them – in a squad built to disrupt the Istanbul duopoly.

The scenes at Istanbul Atatürk Airport told their own story. The “Egyptian King” was greeted like royalty, fans turning a routine arrival into a statement of intent. For them, this is not a step down; it is the arrival of a player capable of reshaping the club’s ambitions overnight.

He leaves Liverpool having completed the set: Premier League, Champions League, and every major trophy on offer during a glittering stay on Merseyside. That legacy is secure. The statue debates and greatest‑ever arguments will rage on without needing a Turkish epilogue.

What comes next, though, belongs to Trabzon.

They last lifted the league title in 2022. Since then, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce have stretched away, fuelled by money, profile and constant European exposure. Trabzonspor are betting heavily that Salah’s goals, aura and sheer professionalism can close that gap.

Carragher may see a player turning his back on the highest stage. In Trabzon, they see something very different: a champion choosing their fight. The only verdict that will matter now is written in goals, trophies and whether Salah can drag another club to a title that has started to feel out of reach.