Mohamed Salah Welcomes Baby Boy Leil in Liverpool

Mohamed Salah has slipped quietly back into Liverpool, the city he once lit up on a weekly basis, for one of the most personal milestones of his life. His wife has given birth to their third child – and their first son – in the north west, where the family spent nearly a decade and had planned to stay even longer.

The former Liverpool forward, who left in the summer after agreeing to terminate his contract a year early, returned to the UK for the birth. His sister Rabab revealed on social media that the couple have welcomed a baby boy named Leil, a name that translates as “night” in Arabic.

It is a new chapter for a family that has grown up in parallel with Salah’s rise to global superstardom. He and his wife Magi, his childhood sweetheart from their hometown of Nagrig, married in 2013. Their first daughter, Makka, arrived in 2014, followed by Kayan in 2020. Now comes Leil, the first son.

Salah, 34, is rebuilding his career in Turkey with Trabzonspor after his Liverpool story ended earlier than expected. The Egyptian signed a two-year deal in 2025 but club and player agreed to cut it short after one season, bringing to a close a spell in which he and his family had become deeply rooted in Merseyside life.

They never hid how much the city meant to them. Speaking before his departure, Salah underlined just how settled his family felt in Liverpool. “They feel at home [here]. They were very happy, [wife] Magi and the kids, they were very happy that we're staying another two years. It feels like home so everyone was happy,” he said at the time.

Now he finds himself juggling a fresh start on the pitch with major changes off it. Trabzonspor president Ertugrul Dogan revealed the scale of that upheaval when he spoke to 61saat, explaining that both Salah and team-mate Andre Onana had recently become fathers again.

“After the (Amed SK) match, I travelled abroad with Salah and Andre Onana. Both of them had new children, Onana had twins and Salah a baby boy. I congratulate their families and their wives,” Dogan said, outlining how family life has shifted for two of the club’s biggest names.

The joy at home comes against a tougher backdrop on the field. Salah’s early weeks in Turkey have already been turbulent. Trabzonspor suffered a bruising 5-0 aggregate defeat to Hungarian side Ferencvaros in the Europa League play-offs, a result that triggered the sudden departure of head coach Fatih Tekke.

The setback could have rattled a new signing. Salah chose to confront it head-on. In a statement on social media after the Ferencvaros loss, he framed the disappointment as part of a familiar story in his career.

“Nothing in my career ever came easy. Bad nights and disappointments are part of football, and I have learned to turn them into motivation and into trophies. Trabzonspor is my club, and I am part of this project, body and soul. Last night will not change that. I know expectations are high, and I truly believe we can and will deliver. ‘I came here to win’ is not just a slogan to me,” he wrote.

So Salah stands at a crossroads of sorts: a new son born in the city that still feels like home, a new club in a league that demands instant impact, and a project he insists he is “body and soul” committed to.

The family has its Leil. Trabzonspor now waits to see what kind of night – and what kind of dawn – their new star will bring.