Mohamed Salah’s move to Trabzonspor has been hailed as a transfer coup by club president Ertugrul Dogan, who says the Egyptian’s arrival has already generated worldwide attention and helped drive a surge in season-ticket sales.
Salah signed a two-year contract at Papara Park in front of 35,000 supporters on 6 August, with thousands more welcoming him at the airport when he arrived in Turkey for his medical.
“He’s the biggest Muslim footballer in the world. He’s an influential role model,” Dogan told BBC Sport Africa and BBC Turkish.
“We held Salah’s signing ceremony in front of 35,000 people.
“It was clear from everything he did that he felt that love, and he told us as much too. He thanked us.”
The transfer marks an unexpected destination for a player who spent nine outstanding seasons at Liverpool and is fourth on the Premier League’s all-time goalscoring list.
Many had expected the 34-year-old to accept a lucrative offer from a Saudi Pro League club, following the path taken by Cristiano Ronaldo, or move to the United States to play alongside Lionel Messi. Instead, he joined a Trabzonspor side without Champions League football and with only one Turkish league title since the club’s peak in the 1970s and early 1980s.
‘Why should I choose Trabzonspor?’
Trabzon is a Black Sea city in north-eastern Turkey, close to the border with Georgia. Its population is about 800,000, meaning it is not among the country’s 20 largest urban centres.
Dogan believes the city’s football culture gave Trabzonspor an advantage.
“I always say this about Trabzonspor and the city – we’re the biggest one-club city in the world.
“Salah asked us something like, ‘Why should I choose Trabzonspor now?’
“We told him about the city and said: ‘You can be sure you will meet a group of supporters unlike any you have experienced before. You’ll feel the genuine love those people have inside them’.”
Dogan, who was born in Trabzon in January 1977, became president of the club in 2023. He built his business career through property and hazelnuts before moving into energy and specialising in biofuels.
His tenure began shortly after Trabzonspor won the 2021-22 league title, the club’s most successful campaign in recent memory. Since then, the Black Sea Storm have finished third, seventh and third in the Super Lig.
Last season, Trabzonspor won the Turkish Cup under manager Fatih Tekke. The club are now attempting to reach the Europa League, despite losing 1-0 at home to Hungary’s Ferencvaros in the first leg of their play-off tie.
“We are working to make Trabzonspor and Trabzon itself a destination for talented young players from all over the world,” said Dogan.
“We want to take them to the next level, to move on to bigger European clubs. Those young players… [combined with] star players… a star in every way, with their lifestyle, their professionalism, their smile, their positive energy.
“Mohamed Salah is a really great example in this respect.”
‘Attention cannot be given financial value’
Trabzonspor have also been developing a model that combines emerging talent with experienced players.
During the close season, the club sold 20-year-old Ivory Coast midfielder Christ Inao Oulai to Fiorentina and 22-year-old Brazilian forward Felipe Augusto to Zenit St Petersburg. Both players left after one season and generated significant profits.
Replacements have arrived from Albania, Belgium, Cape Verde and Portugal, while Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana has returned for a second season on loan from Manchester United.
However, Dogan believes Salah’s signing could transform the club’s profile.
“The attention it has generated and the level of engagement it has created around the world cannot easily be given a direct financial value,” he said.
Salah is set to earn €17m a year (£14.6m, $19.9m), along with 20% of merchandise revenue from products carrying his name.
“Purely from a financial perspective, this transfer has no direct return as such.
“We put up our season tickets this year. We had to make another increase. I told our fans, ‘Look, I’m bringing you Salah, one of the biggest stars in the world’.”
Dogan says ticket sales made during the first four or five days after Salah’s arrival was announced covered almost 70% of the player’s salary for the year.
Trabzonspor had initially aimed to sell 25,000 season tickets, but now expect the figure to pass 30,000. Major companies have also contacted Dogan about becoming involved in the commercial interest surrounding Salah.
“We’re having important discussions in Turkey, Europe and the Arab world as well.”
‘The whole city lives for football’
Although there was interest from several clubs, Dogan says the negotiations with Salah progressed quickly once Trabzonspor were able to begin them.
“Once we started talking, both sides genuinely approached each other very sincerely,” he said.
“We’d actually been pursuing him since the World Cup, but we knew at the start he was also talking to other clubs.”
Dogan said Trabzonspor initially had to wait because of an unwritten understanding among Turkish clubs that other sides do not interfere while one club is negotiating with a player.
“Yes, there were clubs in Turkey who were interested,” he confirmed.
“After they said, ‘We’ve pulled out of this transfer’, we started talks. I think it took about five or six days to conclude.
“We had the first meeting over Zoom. At that point it was really just the two sides getting to know each other. Then Salah was on holiday – he was in Mykonos – and after that the talks continued again via Zoom.”
Trabzonspor arranged Salah’s medical in Istanbul rather than Trabzon so he could experience the reception he might receive throughout Turkey.
He made his debut in the capital, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 1-1 draw at Kasımpasa on the opening day of the new league season on 15 August. He is expected to make his home league debut in Trabzon on Sunday.
“The whole city lives for football,” said Dogan.
“Everywhere you go, on every corner, the city gives that player that energy and that happiness.”
