Jamie Carragher Critiques Mohamed Salah's Move to Trabzonspor

Jamie Carragher did not bother dressing it up. For him, Mohamed Salah trading Anfield’s bright lights for the Black Sea coast is a waste of a still-elite talent.

Speaking on the Football Ramble, the former Liverpool defender admitted he was stunned that the 34-year-old chose Trabzonspor over one last dance in one of Europe’s traditional power leagues.

“I never believed he was going to go to Saudi, because number one, he's too good for that. I think he can be playing in Serie A. Turkey for me feels a level too low,” Carragher said, laying bare his disbelief at the winger’s decision to step away from the game’s most prestigious stages.

“Too good for that” – Carragher’s verdict

Carragher’s frustration is not aimed at Trabzonspor themselves, who have pulled off one of the biggest signings in their history, but at what he sees as a missed opportunity for Salah to follow the Cristiano Ronaldo template: staying at a heavyweight, “prestigious” club for as long as his numbers justify it.

He expected the Egyptian to walk into a historic Italian institution, not a side who finished third in the Super Lig last season.

“I was convinced he'd end up at an AC Milan or Juventus or somewhere like that, maybe his wages were a problem,” he admitted. “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.”

That comparison with Ronaldo is telling. In Carragher’s eyes, Salah still belongs on the sport’s most iconic stages, where every goal feeds a legacy measured against the very best.

Prestige vs payday

At the heart of Carragher’s criticism is a simple belief: Salah has swapped the weekly strain of elite competition for a lucrative comfort zone.

To get the deal done, Trabzonspor are reported to have assembled a package worth around €17 million per year. The move comes after Salah walked away from a £400,000-a-week contract at Liverpool, a decision that seemed to hint at sporting ambition over pure finance.

Carragher, though, feels the final destination tells a different story.

“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,” he 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, but for Carragher that is not enough. The weekly grind of the Turkish league, he argues, cannot match the intensity, scrutiny and status of Serie A or the other big five competitions Salah is turning his back on.

A new kingdom on the Black Sea

Salah, for his part, looks anything but conflicted. The scenes at Istanbul Atatürk Airport told their own story: thousands of fans, flares, banners, and the kind of frenzy reserved for a saviour rather than a signing.

In Trabzon, he will not just be a marquee player. He will be a symbol. The “Egyptian King” arrives as a serial winner, a forward who has lifted every major trophy with Liverpool, from the Premier League to the Champions League, and rewritten the club’s modern record books in the process.

He will also find familiar faces. Andre Onana, on loan from Manchester United, and former Manchester City defender Stefan Savic are among the ex-Premier League names he will link up with in northern Turkey. The dressing room will not feel entirely alien, even if the surroundings do.

Trabzonspor are gambling big. Their last league title came in 2022, and they have watched Galatasaray and Fenerbahce set the pace since. Salah is the statement that they refuse to settle for chasing shadows.

Legacy on the line

Carragher’s stance is clear: this is a player who could still be deciding title races in Italy, still scoring under the lights at the San Siro, still living in the eye of the storm. Instead, he sees Salah stepping sideways, if not down.

Yet the pull of being the undisputed star of a club desperate to topple Istanbul’s giants is powerful. In Liverpool, Salah shared the stage with a generation of greats. In Trabzon, he will own it.

If he drags Trabzonspor back to the summit and lights up Europe from the Europa League rather than the Champions League, the move will be framed as a bold new chapter rather than a quiet fade from the spotlight.

If not, the question Carragher poses now will only grow louder: did one of the defining forwards of his era walk away from the game’s biggest arenas too soon?