Why did Mohamed Salah sign for Trabzonspor? What even is Trabzonspor? And why did he wear the number 61?
Plenty of questions have followed the biggest star in the Middle East and his choice of this relatively obscure Turkish club. So here is the full picture.
After nine years of titles, personal records, and hundreds of goals and assists, Mohamed Salah left Liverpool this summer as a free agent — and the rumours and offers came thick and fast. Two MLS clubs, a Saudi Pro League side, an Italian club, and the team considered the most serious contender: Beşiktaş of Turkey. But Beşiktaş struggled to match Salah's wage demands, and negotiations with his agent, Ramy Abbas Issa, broke down over commission. The deal collapsed.
That opened the door for Trabzonspor — Turkey's fourth club, or, if you like, the Hapoel Be'er Sheva of the Turkish top flight: a side that does not come from Istanbul and is not part of the traditional big three of Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, or Beşiktaş, but from Trabzon. A city on the shores of the Black Sea, deep in Anatolia, a peripheral corner of Turkey that has almost always lived in the shadow of Istanbul's metropolitan dominance — and even of the major cities of Ankara and Izmir. They are, in every sense, the "others" of Turkish football, and local Trabzon identity is something they wear with enormous pride.
And those "others" put a serious offer on the table: €17 million per season for two years, with potential bonuses taking it to €19 million, and when shirt sales and commercial deals are factored in, Salah stands to earn over €40 million in total.
Several factors made Trabzonspor the right fit. Salah was keen to remain in European football and in European competition — Trabzonspor play in the UEFA Europa League. He also needed his agent's commission to be right, his salary to be as close as possible to what he earned at Liverpool, and he was genuinely pleased that the environment in Trabzon and Turkey would suit his family — both culturally and religiously.
There is also something else: Salah has always loved being the outsider, the underdog who arrives somewhere and rewrites the story.
When you look at all of those elements together, Trabzonspor ticked every single box.
And why was Salah wearing the number 61 in the photo Trabzonspor published?
61 is Trabzon's telephone dialling code — and it has become a badge of fierce local pride, a kind of Trabzon identity symbol that says: "We are different, we are outsiders, we are underdogs — and we love it." A little like the 08 of Be'er Sheva, only on the Black Sea.
But not to worry — 61 was just for the announcement. During the season, in both the Turkish league and in Europe, Salah will wear the number 10, just as he does for the Egyptian national team.
After nine years at Liverpool, Salah left for Trabzonspor — the money, the family, and the love of being the underdog all played their part.