Trabzonspor's Ambitious Bid to Reunite Darwin Núñez with Mohamed Salah

Trabzonspor are trying to pull off one of the boldest moves of the summer: reuniting Darwin Núñez with Mohamed Salah on the Black Sea coast.

Renowned Turkish journalist Yagiz Sabuncuoglu reports that Trabzon have reached an agreement with the Uruguayan striker on personal terms. The real battle now lies with his club, Al-Hilal, where negotiations are ongoing and expected to be anything but straightforward.

A costly asset stuck on the sidelines

Al-Hilal paid Liverpool 53 million euros for Núñez just last year and tied him down until 2028. With that fee still fresh and his contract long, the Saudi club have little reason to sell on the cheap. Sabuncuoglu’s report does not disclose the figure Al-Hilal are demanding, but they are not expected to move for anything below what they consider his true value.

The situation is complicated by the player’s wages. Núñez is said to earn around 15 million euros net per year in Saudi Arabia. Trabzonspor, who finished third in the latest Süper Lig campaign, are reportedly only able to stretch to a maximum of eight million euros annually. For the move to happen, the 27-year-old would have to accept a significant pay cut.

Right now, Al-Hilal are described as completely open to selling. That stance is rooted in how abruptly Núñez’s role collapsed earlier this year.

Frozen out after Benzema’s arrival

At the start of February, Karim Benzema arrived and Núñez paid the price. Because of the strict foreign-player quota in the Saudi Pro League, Al-Hilal had to remove one overseas player from their domestic squad. They chose Núñez.

From there, his season simply stopped. He featured only twice more, both in the AFC Champions League up to mid-February, and has now gone half a year without a competitive appearance. Before being frozen out, he had posted a respectable return: nine goals and five assists in 24 matches for Al-Hilal.

A proven forward, stuck in limbo. A club in Turkey smelling opportunity.

Salah and Núñez, together again?

If the deal goes through, Trabzonspor would be getting more than just a striker. They would be rebuilding a partnership that once terrorised defences in England.

Between 2022 and 2025, Núñez and Mohamed Salah led Liverpool’s attack together. Salah has already made the surprise move to Trabzon on a free transfer, greeted by huge fanfare after leaving Anfield. Now the club are working to add his former team-mate to the mix.

With Salah already in place and Núñez potentially on the way, Trabzonspor are arming themselves to take on Istanbul’s giants, especially serial champions Galatasaray, in a renewed push for their first league title since 2022.

Loan first, big money later?

Trabzonspor are said to favour a loan deal for Núñez with an option to buy. Whether Al-Hilal will accept that structure is unclear. For a club that paid 53 million euros just last year, a simple loan without guarantees would make little sense.

There is another subplot: the transfer history books. If the eventual fee hits the expected level, Núñez would become only the ninth footballer in history to surpass 200 million euros in cumulative transfer fees. He needs at least 16 million euros more to cross that threshold, with 184 million euros already spent on him across his career.

A sidelined star, a revived partnership with Salah, a club desperate to break Istanbul’s grip on the title, and a transfer total edging towards historic territory. The numbers are big, the stakes even bigger. Now it comes down to whether Al-Hilal are ready to let Darwin Núñez swap the desert for the Black Sea.