Beşiktaş President Adalı Clarifies Mohamed Salah Transfer Situation

Beşiktaş president Serdal Adalı has drawn a hard line under the Mohamed Salah saga, insisting the club were never beaten to the Egypt captain’s signature – because they never wanted him.

Speaking to several Turkish outlets, including A Spor, Adalı pushed back against the narrative that Beşiktaş had lost a transfer battle with Trabzonspor for one of world football’s biggest names.

“We did not want the Mohamed Salah deal, and this must be clear to everyone,” he said. “We did not sign him, but not because we lost the deal or were unable to bring him in, that talk is not true.”

“We were never in that race”

Adalı’s intervention comes after days of noise around Salah’s move to Trabzonspor and Beşiktaş’s supposed role in the chase. The president made it clear he believes the story was built on a misunderstanding – and on words taken out of context from his own coach.

According to Adalı, comments from coach Onder were twisted into something they were never meant to be.

“The coach explained the matter in a clear and respectful way when he said: ‘At the present time’, but his words were understood incorrectly,” Adalı explained. “We could simply have announced then that we had withdrawn from the negotiations, but the matter was portrayed as if we were a party to the deal and then another club came and snatched the player, and that is not true and it bothers me.”

That irritation runs through his account. In his view, Beşiktaş were turned into the losers of a race they never entered.

A president protecting his record

Since taking charge, Adalı is keen to underline one statistic: Beşiktaş, under his watch, do not lose transfer targets.

“Since I took on the responsibility, no one has been able to snatch away any player we wanted to sign,” he said. It was both a defence of the club’s planning and a message to supporters who might have wondered how Salah slipped away.

He also moved quickly to cool any talk of bad blood with Trabzonspor, the club that ultimately landed Salah.

“Our relationship with Trabzonspor is also good, and nothing of this kind could happen between the two clubs,” he added, rejecting any idea of a head‑to‑head battle or a grudge.

For Adalı, the transfer window is unfolding exactly as drawn up. The noise, he suggested, is outside the plan, not part of it.

“Our deals are going as we planned them, and new players will join us starting next week,” he said. “In the end, what will decide matters is what happens on the pitch, while the transfer hype only lasts a few days.”

Trossard, licences and a misread look

The president also moved to clarify the situation around Belgian forward Leandro Trossard, whose arrival has been overshadowed by the Salah narrative and questions about his registration.

“There is no problem regarding Trossard’s licence, the matter was resolved last night, and we are waiting for the documents to arrive from England,” Adalı confirmed. “He will not be ready for the first match, but we hope he will feature in the second.”

Even Trossard’s unveiling did not escape the Salah storm. As the Belgian was presented, fans chanted Salah’s name, cameras cut to Adalı, and social media pounced on his facial expression as supposed proof of frustration over a lost superstar.

He rejected that reading outright.

“Everyone talked about the look on my face, but honestly I did not hear what the fans were chanting at that moment,” he said.

For Adalı, that moment became another example of how body language and brief phrases had been turned into a grand transfer drama.

“His move was not part of our plans”

The Beşiktaş chief ended with a clear, almost blunt, message: Salah was never on their transfer roadmap in the way people have claimed.

“Much was said based on my facial expressions, as if we had lost the deal, but his move was not part of our plans,” he insisted. He also pointed to the behaviour of Salah’s representative as a factor in how the situation unfolded.

“The player's agent did things we had not been accustomed to before, and I think everything went in the end as it should,” Adalı said. “As time passes the picture will become clear, and everyone will understand why this deal was not completed.”

For now, Salah is at Trabzonspor, Trossard is waiting on paperwork, and Adalı is staking his reputation on one central claim: Beşiktaş do not lose the players they truly want.