Trabzonspor put a two-year offer to Salah, and their president says no deal exists

Mohamed Salah left Anfield on 1 July after agreeing to terminate his contract a year early, ending a nine-year stay, and for most of the summer the guessing about where he goes next has taken in Saudi Arabia, MLS and a scattering of European clubs. It has narrowed to Turkey. What it has not done is settle, because the president of the club supposedly signing him keeps saying it is not happening.

Besiktas walked away first

Besiktas had got closest. Foot Mercato reported that Salah had verbally agreed to join them, and the deal looked like a formality until the money stopped adding up. Besiktas had put a guaranteed annual salary of 15 million euros on the table, with performance bonuses that could have pushed his earnings to between 19 and 20 million a season.

Fully triggered, that package was worth more than 40 million euros. It was still as far as they were prepared to go. Onder Ozen, a Besiktas director, said the club had stepped away from active talks because the demands made during negotiations risked undermining its financial principles, and that Besiktas would not improve the final offer or hand over privileges not available to other players and employees. He did leave the door ajar for Salah’s side to accept the terms already on the table.

Trabzonspor moved within days

Trabzonspor executives met Salah’s long-time representative Ramy Abbas on 1 August to lay out their own terms. Turkish outlets have put the offer at somewhere between 16 and 17 million euros guaranteed a year across a two-year contract, with part of the package reportedly funded by sponsors. Spor Depo went further and said a mutual exchange of documents had officially begun. At 17 million a year, the guaranteed money across the two seasons comes to 34 million euros before bonuses or commercial add-ons, which is a lot without quite reaching the top of the league’s pay scale. That still belongs to Victor Osimhen at Galatasaray, on a reported gross salary of 18.75 million euros for this season.

Foot Mercato’s read is that Trabzonspor are now ahead of Besiktas in the race. FootballTransfers reported that Salah is positively inclined towards the move, having been talked through the terms by Abbas, and that he wants to discuss it with his family before deciding. Saudi Arabia has not gone away either: Al Ittihad are reported to have renewed their interest at around 25 million dollars a year, with neither side confirming anything.

The president says otherwise

Ertugrul Dogan, the Trabzonspor president, is not playing along. “There is no such agreement,” he said, adding that there was no planned flight to Trabzon the following day. He had already dismissed the reports once, on 28 July, calling the claims about a Salah transfer untrue. beIN Sports Turkiye, while quoting the same 16 to 17 million range, disputed the idea that a contract had been agreed.

Club presidents deny things that later turn out to be true, and they also deny things that are simply not true. There is no way to tell from the outside which of those this is. What can be said is that nobody involved has produced a signature, and the only on-record voice from Trabzonspor has twice said no.

What is actually settled

Salah is 34 and available on a free transfer, which is the whole reason this has run so long. He carries no fee, so the negotiation is purely about wages, and wages are exactly where Besiktas decided the price was too high. Trabzonspor have reportedly gone higher. Whether they have gone high enough, and whether their president is being coy or accurate, should be clear within days rather than weeks, with Turkish reports suggesting the club want it finished during the week.

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