Carragher's Take on Salah's Move to Trabzonspor

Jamie Carragher does not mince his words. Mohamed Salah, he believes, is simply “too good” for where he has ended up.

The Liverpool legend has been left stunned by Salah’s decision to swap Anfield and the Premier League spotlight for Trabzonspor and the Turkish Super Lig, a move that drags one of the game’s most prolific forwards away from Europe’s traditional power base.

Speaking on the Football Ramble, Carragher admitted he never thought the “Egyptian King” would follow that path.

“I never believed he was going to go to Saudi, because number one, he's too good for that,” he said. “I think he can be playing in Serie A. Turkey for me feels a level too low.”

That line cuts to the heart of his frustration. In Carragher’s eyes, Salah should still be operating at the sharp end of the European game, not trading weekly battles with Europe’s elite for a league he views as less demanding.

Carragher wanted a Serie A stage

For Carragher, the roadmap was obvious. Cristiano Ronaldo’s late‑career choices set the template: stay at a “prestigious” club, keep the lights bright, keep the numbers coming.

While Trabzonspor celebrate what is undeniably a huge coup, Carragher is left wondering why Salah did not land at a historic Italian institution.

He expected to see the 34‑year‑old walking out at San Siro or the Allianz Stadium, not the Papara Park.

“I was convinced he'd end up at an AC Milan or Juventus or somewhere like that, maybe his wages were a problem,” he said. “I don't know him, obviously have never spoken to him. But he's like Ronaldo, he's so driven, his numbers mean so much to him.

“I thought, he can still do this in Turkey by the way, but I thought he'd want to play at a real prestigious club.”

The comparison with Ronaldo is telling. Carragher sees the same obsession with output, the same hunger to stack goals and records. Which is why the move to Turkey jars so much for him. The stage, in his mind, does not fit the star.

Money, prestige and the daily grind

Beneath the surface, his criticism is about more than geography. It is about visibility, pressure, and the level of weekly competition.

The package on offer from Trabzonspor is reported to be worth around €17 million per year. Serious money, even for a player who has just walked away from a £400,000‑a‑week deal at Liverpool. To Carragher, that points to a choice: maximum salary in a softer environment, or slightly less money to stay in the furnace of the very top.

He believes Salah could and perhaps should have bent a little on his demands to get the move he feels his talent still merits.

“Obviously his wage demands have put a few people off but I thought he might almost curb those demands a little bit to almost get a better club,” Carragher said.

“To go to an AC Milan or Juventus or whoever it may be, play at the San Siro, still playing in big games, still playing in Europe. Turkey just feels like... I just think he's better than that.”

Trabzonspor will be in the Europa League next season, so European nights are not disappearing entirely. Carragher’s issue lies with the “daily grind” of the Turkish league, which he sees as a step down for a player who has spent the last seven years terrorising defences in what many regard as the toughest league in the world.

A legend leaves, a new king arrives

What is not in dispute is the scale of the legacy Salah leaves behind on Merseyside. He departs Liverpool having won every major trophy available to him at club level: the Premier League, the Champions League, and the rest that followed in that golden era under Jürgen Klopp.

The numbers, the moments, the finals – they have already cemented his status as one of the greatest players in Liverpool’s history.

Now he begins again in the north of Turkey. Trabzonspor, last crowned champions in 2022, are gambling that Salah’s arrival can drag them past Galatasaray and Fenerbahce and back to the summit.

He will not be alone. The club have surrounded him with familiar Premier League faces, including Manchester United loanee Andre Onana and former Manchester City defender Stefan Savic. It is a squad built to attack, built to challenge, built to justify the outlay.

And if Carragher is unconvinced, the scenes at Istanbul Atatürk Airport told a different story. The reception bordered on worship. Flares, flags, crowds pressed against barriers just to catch a glimpse. In Turkey, he will not just be a marquee signing. He will be a phenomenon.

Carragher may see a player stepping down from the game’s highest pedestal. Trabzonspor see the man who can rewrite their future. The only verdict that will matter now is written on the pitch.