Mo Salah signing for Trabzonspor continues the Turkish clubs’ quest to overthrow Galatasaray

Mohamed Salah signing for Trabzonspor has finally put to rest what was turning out to be a seemingly endless transfer saga. The former Liverpool man, who holds the mantle of being the Premier League’s leading non-European goalscorer, has signed a 2-year contract for a club that seems to have made a huge statement of intent.

However, they are not the only club who have been making big moves. There is a slow resurgence among the Turkish clubs which points down to one and only one thing: To break the seemingly invincible monopoly of Galatasaray on the Turkish Super League.

For the last 4 seasons, Galatasaray have been romping to the Turkish title with relentless efficiency. They have won each title with a gap of 8, 3, 11, and 3 points respectively. While they have been challenged all the way in two of those 4 seasons, the result has inevitably shifted towards the men in Red and Orange.

No team in the history of the Turkish league has won 5 consecutive titles in a row, and while Galatasaray will be looking to make the impossible possible, it is safe to say that the rest of the chasing pack will want to have their say in making sure that it does not happen on their watch.

The chasing pack includes the likes of Besiktas and Fenerbahce, two out of the Istanbul Big 3 (which includes Galatasaray as well), and Trabzonspor. Each of these sides have had long title droughts and will be looking to end them soon. Besiktas last won it in 2021, Trabzonspor in 2022, and Fenerbahce have not won the league since the last time they lifted it in 2014.

Each of these teams have made signings that will bolster them and ensure that they pose a much better and stronger challenge this time around, and the quality of them has also been high in terms of the names that they have acquired.

Besiktas were of course the team pruned by Salah in the end, but they have completed the signing of recently-crowned champion Leandro Troddard from Arsenal, and have now set their sights on acquiring Serbian forward Dusan Vlahovic, who is currently a free agent.

Fenerbahce have signed Man City defender Nathan Ake, who has time and again shown his reliability in those title-winning sides at the bedrock of that defense, and Marseille and former Man United forward Mason Greenwood, who recently had a very promising season in terms of the number of goals he scored.

And of course, Trabzonspor with the capture of Salah will look to win their first title since 2022 and only their second in the 21st century. 

In Turkiye there is a phrase that says, “titles are won at the airport”, that pushes a subtle message about getting in foreign imports. In that regard it is safe to say that Trabzonspor have won the title with the way that Salah was given a hero’s welcome at the airport.

However, we will have to wait and see if that can translate into winning the league over Galatasaray, or will it be 5 in a row for the Red and Orange army?