Saudi Arabia was the expected destination all summer.
The MLS had shown genuine interest.
Al Hilal were preparing an offer.
Sporting Kansas City had entered the conversation.
And then, entirely out of nowhere, Istanbul entered the picture.
And won.
Mohamed Salah reaches agreement with Besiktas on one-year deal
According to Santi Aouna, Mohamed Salah has reached an agreement with Besiktas, with the 34-year-old set to sign a one-year contract with an option for a second season at the Turkish club, on a salary of approximately €10 million per year plus €2 million in bonuses.
Footmercato subsequently confirmed the agreement, describing the deal as imminent.
Salah’s agent Ramy Abbas had teased an announcement earlier on Friday, posting that “we still do not know where Mohamed will play next season but we may know very soon”, and the source of those words has now become clear.
The path to this agreement was not straightforward.
Salah had initially demanded an annual salary of €15 million, a figure that stretched well beyond Besiktas’s financial parameters.
But the player lowered his demands.
He wanted Istanbul.
His family wanted Istanbul.
And that desire proved the decisive factor.
The club’s president has been personally overseeing negotiations since talks began in earnest, with Salah’s legal representative flying to Istanbul to finalise the details face to face.
Besiktas finished fourth in the Super Lig last season and will compete in the Europa League next term.
European football of a kind that will keep Salah in the continent’s elite competition in a way that Saudi Arabia or MLS simply could not offer.
He will join a familiar face there too.
Leandro Trossard confirmed his move to Besiktas last week. The former Arsenal winger having made his own decision to experience Turkish football at the end of his Stamford Bridge career.
For Salah, this is the first chapter of his career that takes him away from the stadiums he has defined.
The Premier League’s all-time top scorer born outside England.
A player whose name is already on the all-time legends list regardless of what happens next.
Now he writes the next page.
In Istanbul.
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