Mohamed Salah Leaves Liverpool for Trabzonspor

Mohamed Salah’s time at Anfield is over. Not with a farewell lap in front of the Kop or a final title charge, but with a mutually agreed contract termination and a surprising next chapter in Turkey.

Liverpool and Salah have cut short a deal that was due to run until April 2025, ending a nine-year spell that reshaped the club’s modern history. At 34, after a turbulent season under Arne Slot, Salah will leave on a free transfer to join Trabzonspor in the Turkish Superlig.

It is a jarring sentence to write: Mohamed Salah, Liverpool legend, now a Trabzonspor player.

A Giant Walks Away

Salah does not leave quietly in statistical terms. He goes as one of Liverpool’s greatest ever, and the numbers back it up. Seven major trophies on Merseyside. Third on the club’s all-time scoring list with 257 goals in 442 games. A relentless presence on the right, the face of Jürgen Klopp’s era, and the man who turned tight games and tight seasons.

Yet the ending has been anything but smooth.

This past campaign was bruising. Salah found himself dropped, his relationship with then head coach Arne Slot deteriorating in public view. The flashpoint came at Leeds, where omission from the side was followed by a bombshell interview that made it clear all was not well behind the scenes.

From that moment, the sense of inevitability grew. This was not how it was supposed to end, but it was clearly ending.

From £150m Rejection to Free Transfer

Less than three years ago, Liverpool stared down Saudi money and refused to blink. A £150m bid from Al Ittihad was turned away, the club adamant Salah remained central to their plans and identity.

Now, the same player walks away for nothing.

The market has changed. Liverpool have changed. Salah has changed. The Premier League once braced for an exodus to Saudi Arabia, and for a long time that looked like his next destination. After that Leeds interview, the smart money was on the Middle East. The wages on offer there dwarfed almost anything in Europe.

Instead, he has chosen a different route. A new league, a new culture, a new level of expectation.

Trabzonspor, who finished third in the Turkish Superlig last season, will enter the Europa League playoffs. It is a proud club, passionate, loud, intense. But it is not the Champions League stage where Salah built his reputation, nor the Saudi gold rush many expected him to join.

Why Trabzonspor?

Former Premier League defender John Curtis, speaking on Sky Sports News’ Transfer Show, cut to the chase.

“The obvious one is the money. I'm sure. I think it's rumoured to be 17m a year or something like that,” he said.

“So you know that translates to a little bit less maybe than he was earning at Liverpool, and probably significantly less than he could have got at or in Saudi Arabia.”

This is not the maximum-payday move many assumed would close out his career. The Saudi offers would have been enormous. Trabzonspor’s reported package is lucrative, but not at that level.

Curtis also touched on the footballing shift awaiting Salah.

“It's very easy to play with top players. So, is this a step down? Obviously, those players are very good players, but most Salah is used to working with the very best, and that impacts you as a player. So, again, it becomes a little bit of a shock.”

That is the crux of it. At Liverpool, Salah operated alongside some of the finest players in Europe, in one of the most intense systems in the world’s most-watched league. Now he moves to a team fighting to assert itself in Turkey and make a dent in Europe.

For a player who has spent years at the sharpest edge of elite football, this will feel different. The spotlight will dim slightly, but the expectations from a fervent fanbase will not.

Legacy Intact, Ending Complicated

The manner of Salah’s departure does not erase what came before. The trophies, the goals, the records – they remain etched into Liverpool’s story. He arrived as a wide forward with something to prove and leaves as a club icon.

Yet the final chapter at Anfield has been messy. A public fallout with a new head coach. A season that never quite clicked. A quiet, administrative ending to a relationship that once felt unbreakable.

For Liverpool, the task now is to move on from a player who defined an era. For Salah, the challenge is different: to prove that he still has the edge, the hunger, and the decisiveness that made him one of the most feared forwards in world football.

The next time he walks out in club colours, it will not be in front of the Kop or under the Premier League lights. It will be in Trabzon, wearing the colours of a club desperate to make his twilight years anything but a gentle fade.

How much does Mohamed Salah have left to give at the top level? The Turkish Superlig, and the Europa League playoffs, are about to find out.