ChatGPTFootball: a game adored by millions, if not billions, around the world. Yet for many players it's nothing more than a means to a greater end. Some of those ends belong to the game itself. Others reach well beyond it.
Mohamed Salah, it seems, falls into that second camp. The Egyptian star has set off on a new and perhaps final chapter of his career, joining the Turkish league with Trabzonspor in a deal that has sparked a storm of controversy.
Ever since Trabzonspor announced the signing of Mohamed Salah, many fans of the Egyptian star have lined up to criticise the move, arguing the Turkish league is beneath his abilities, his name and his history.
Only once before has Salah faced such strong opposition to a transfer. It came 12 years ago, and strangely enough for the opposite reasons to the current ones. In January 2014, he moved from Switzerland's Basel to Chelsea.
Back then, the Egyptian was on the verge of joining Liverpool. Chelsea and their Portuguese manager at the time, Jose Mourinho, intervened at the last moment and secured the deal.
Plenty of his fans disliked the switch to Chelsea, especially with the London club packed full of stars. That made life harder for a player still at the start of his career.
Liverpool, by contrast, needed "Mo" far more. They were locked in fierce competition with Chelsea and Manchester City for the Premier League title that season, and they wanted an attacking option alongside Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge.
In the end, Salah followed his heart and accepted the invitation of Mourinho, who phoned him personally to persuade him. He surely regretted it. He never got a real chance at Chelsea.
Correcting that mistake took Salah three and a half years. Liverpool signed him in the summer of 2017, after two spells with Fiorentina and Roma, but he arrived at 25 rather than 21, which cut short the span of his career with the Reds.
Salah has gone against his fans for the second time, choosing to move to Trabzonspor. He will almost certainly not regret it. He is most probably chasing goals far removed from the ones his admirers criticise him for, and far removed from football too.
The plan started to take shape almost a full year ago. A few days after renewing his Liverpool contract until 2027, the Egyptian star bought a luxury villa in the Turkish city of Bodrum for 10 million dollars, the equivalent of half a billion Egyptian pounds.
That step came not only after the renewal with Liverpool, but after he had spent his summer holiday in that same Turkish coastal city.
Clearly the Egyptian star is thinking of living in Turkey for some time, perhaps a long time. That may come after the end of his football career, but why not during it?
Since the current summer window opened, with "Mo's" Liverpool chapter closed, one thing looked clear: his agent, Ramy Abbas, was hunting for the right offer in the Turkish league specifically, even as bids arrived from Saudi Arabia and America.
That told its own story. Salah hadn't weighed up a move to Trabzonspor, or Besiktas before them, for football reasons. He wanted to enjoy his personal life in a city that had won him over, and the motive may well have stretched further, into commercial investments.
Turkish newspaper "Sabah" confirmed at the time that Turkish businessman Ahmet Karakol, Mohamed Salah's business partner in England, lay behind his visit to the city of Bodrum last summer.
Owning a string of companies and tourism investments in Turkey, Karakol rolled out the welcome for the Egyptian star during that trip.
This business relationship, and the luxury villa in Bodrum that came with it, may well have swayed Mohamed Salah's decision and turned the Turkish league into his destination for fresh commercial ventures.
Salah landed handsome rewards by signing for Trabzonspor too. He will pocket an annual salary worth 17 million euros, plus another 5 million in incentives and variables, and 20% of the revenues from sales of products bearing his name.
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Mohamed Salah is not the first player to put non-sporting objectives at the forefront of his considerations. Plenty of the game's biggest names have done so before him, most notably Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina's Lionel Messi.
In the winter of 2023, Ronaldo triggered one of the biggest surprises in football history when he decided to join the Saudi league, and Al-Nassr specifically, after a long journey at Europe's biggest clubs such as Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus.
His move did not come only out of a belief in the Saudi project. The lavish perks played their part too, especially the astronomical salary that reached 200 million euros a year according to press reports.
After renewing his contract in 2025, "the Don" secured even more. He landed 15% of Al-Nassr's shares, a private jet and a full team of 16 members to serve him.
Messi did the same thing when he moved to Inter Miami in the summer of 2023. He wanted to remain in a global tourist city, and he agreed to a salary ranging from 50 to 80 million dollars a year.
The Argentine star also agreed to take a share of the American club's ownership upon retirement, a slice of shirt sales profits, and a cut of the revenues from new subscriptions to the streaming service dedicated to the American league's matches.
This may reveal part of the reasons behind Mohamed Salah's refusal to move to the Saudi league, despite receiving a huge offer to join Al-Ittihad for 25 million euros per year, an increase of 8 million over his salary at Trabzonspor.
Jeddah may be a coastal city, but Saudi Arabia is known for its scorching temperatures throughout most of the year, something many world football stars who recently joined the Saudi league have complained about.
The 25 million euros would only be guaranteed in the first season. Given the significant public pressure in Saudi Arabia, the Egyptian star could not count on collecting that salary the following year.
Just look at the departure of French coach Laurent Blanc from Al-Ittihad, only four rounds into last season's Saudi league campaign, despite winning both the league and the cup the previous year.
Several stars have been linked with an exit from the Saudi league more than once, given the constant criticism they face. Even Ronaldo himself has been, along with French striker Karim Benzema.
Salah would carry an even greater burden as the number one star, and Al-Ittihad are not enjoying their best period. They are struggling badly both technically and administratively, which makes the prospect of him succeeding and shining there fraught with risk.
The Egyptian faced Saudi criticism even before joining. Ben Harburg, the American owner of Al-Kholood, argued that the Saudi league is not a place to spend a retirement holiday.
Saudi media figure Waleed Al-Farraj urged Salah not to join the Roshn league, insisting it was not the right place for him at this stage, while another Saudi media figure, Saud Al-Sarami, branded him finished.
Turkey told a different story. Salah received a historic welcome the moment he arrived, with thousands greeting him at the airport and chanting his name, amid official interest in completing the deal even after his move to Besiktas stumbled.
Trabzonspor's ambitions bear no resemblance to Al-Ittihad's either. The Turkish club are not chasing titles so much as European qualification, given how Galatasaray and Fenerbahce dominate at the top.
All this would hand the Egyptian more calm and security to see out his contract with the Turkish club, unlike the Saudi league, which he could have left after a single season had he failed to deliver what was hoped for.
Salah, though, may find himself facing a scenario he never imagined: becoming the Turkish league's new Ronaldo, echoing what the Portuguese did when he joined Al-Nassr in the winter of 2023.
No other star had ever been given the historic reception that greeted the Egyptian, and this despite the many world-class names the Turkish league has attracted over the past few years.
That welcome could be the springboard for the Turkish league to chase more elite signings and take on Europe's biggest competitions.
Should it come to pass, this will stand as a bright mark on Salah's career long after he retires. History would remember him as the godfather of the Turkish league in its new era.
