Between Spain, Saudi Arabia and Turkey: has Mohamed Salah made the right decision?

In the early days of negotiations after the World Cup, Besiktas looked the likeliest destination for the Egyptian star.

Talks had reached the shirt number he would wear (11), the value of the contract, even the filming of the club's advertising campaigns. Confidence inside the Turkish club ran high that the deal would get done.

Then the negotiations stalled. Contractual disputes, particularly over some of the financial clauses and the role of the player's agent Ramy Abbas, brought everything to a halt at the decisive moment. Other clubs began to exploit the situation.

Beşiktaş saw their negotiations stall, and several Saudi clubs pounced, with Al-Ittihad leading the chase.

Reports claimed Salah had agreed to the Saudi offer for a huge salary reaching 25 million dollars a year. Al-Diriyah also surfaced among the clubs monitoring the situation, ready to step in should the Turkish talks collapse.

Financially, the Saudi league had put the strongest offer on the table. That much was clear, especially given the vast project the competition has been building in recent years and the string of global stars it has lured.

Yet other reports suggested Salah still preferred to stay in Europe. He reckoned this stage of his career still allowed him to compete on the Old Continent, which meant the Saudi offers, for all their financial muscle, never became a final agreement.

Days later, Atlético Madrid entered the picture.

Spanish reports spoke of initial talks and a desire from the club to take advantage of Salah being a free agent. A contract was being prepared to run for two seasons with an option to extend.

The negotiations never got past enquiries and the study of financial terms. They reached neither an official announcement nor a final agreement.

From a sporting perspective, Atlético may have been the best option. The move would have kept Salah in one of Europe's strongest leagues, handed him another crack at the Champions League and let him compete for domestic and continental titles.

But in the transfer world, "interest" and an "official offer" are two very different things.

While the rest of the clubs were moving through press reports, Trabzonspor chose to move on the ground.

The club officially announced the start of negotiations with Mohamed Salah. Then came the date of the player's arrival in Istanbul to complete his transfer procedures, a step that dragged the matter out of speculation and into execution.

Perhaps this was the most important factor in the whole story. Salah found a clear project in front of him and a club ready to seal the deal, rather than one waiting on offers that mostly never got beyond initial talks. That readiness led to today's official announcement.

On the sporting side alone, Trabzonspor offer several important advantages.

Start with Salah's own wish. He wants to stay in Europe, a point stressed in more than one report over the past few days, and this move delivers exactly that.

The club will also compete in the Europa League. That keeps Salah in continental football rather than settling for domestic competitions alone.

Then there is his status. Salah would be the undisputed number one at the club, with the attacking system built around him, something other clubs packed with stars may not offer in the same way.

Fan and media pressure would ease too. It exists in Turkey, of course, but it looks lighter than what awaited him elsewhere, particularly at Al-Ittihad of Saudi Arabia.

The choice of Trabzon is not without its drawbacks. The most notable is that the Turkish league remains less competitive than the Spanish or English leagues, and playing in the Europa League is naturally a world away from the Champions League.

Salah may also have sacrificed the bigger financial returns on offer in the Saudi league, which now boasts a strong sporting project and is no longer the purely financial destination it was viewed as a few years ago.

Was the Atletico Madrid opportunity genuine and capable of turning into an official offer? Many would naturally see a move to La Liga as the better sporting option.

No account of this saga is complete without Ramy Abbas, Mohamed Salah's agent.

Abbas sat in on every round of talks, according to reports. His name surfaced most prominently once whispers of contractual disputes emerged, the sticking point that ultimately scuppered the player's move to Besiktas.

Some fans took aim at the agent's hardline approach. Yet his job, above all, is to protect his client's interests and land the best deal on offer, both financially and legally.

That hard line may have worked in Salah's favour. Negotiations shifted from Besiktas to Trabzon, who managed to push the deal through to its official stages.

Was Salah right or wrong to pick Trabzonspor? There's no way of knowing for certain right now, because every option on his table came with its own upsides and downsides. Atletico Madrid would have kept him competing at the highest level of European football. The Saudi league dangled a huge sporting and financial project. Trabzonspor offered a chance to stay in Europe and lead the line as the team's number one star.

Football isn't decided on paper, though. It's settled inside the white lines. The move to Trabzonspor could become one of the most successful chapters of Salah's career if he fires the team to domestic honours and a Champions League appearance. Equally, time might prove another option would have suited him better.

That's why the question hangs without a definitive answer for now. The real verdict won't come from news or speculation. It will come from what the Egyptian produces on the pitch in a Trabzonspor shirt.

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