Mohamed Salah's transfer to Trabzonspor was one of the most commented deals of the summer market, and after the draw brought the Turkish team together with CSKA in the main phase of the Conference League, the topic is becoming even more relevant in our country, writes "Mach Telegraf".
For two years on the Black Sea coast, Salah is guaranteed a minimum of 34 million euros. But can Trabzon afford this money? In reality, they have to pay the Egyptian 1 billion and 211 million Turkish liras, given that they already owe 5 billion liras to date. According to some analysts, such a deal is pure financial suicide for the club.
Trabzonspor is a serious brand by Turkish standards, but it is far from the potential of Istanbul giants such as Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe. 51% of the club's shares are held by a trading company owned by the club itself, and its organized members elect a president for a three-year term. The current president is Ertugrul Dogan - a man of serious business. Dogan owns a holding company with interests in metal mining and energy, but he does not own Trabzonspor, nor is there any evidence that he finances it.
The remaining 49% of the club's shares are scattered among minority shareholders or are traded on the stock exchange. A Trabzonspor share is sold for a few cents. It costs just 1 Turkish lira, which at 10 liras is equivalent to just 18 euro cents.
In 2025, the club's revenue amounted to 4 billion Turkish liras (72 million euros). 41% of this came from sponsors, the largest of which was the financial transactions and payments company Papara, to which the stadium's name was also sold. 29% of the proceeds came from the club shop and fan merchandise, 14% from television rights, and 13% from tickets and season tickets.
Expenses for the same period were 6.7 billion liras (120 million euros). Half of this went to player salaries and taxes, and the rest to current expenses and stadium maintenance. So, when we draw the line, the club is “in the red” with 2.7 billion liras (48 million euros), not counting transfers.
In 2025, Trabzonspor made good money from selling players and renting - 2.3 billion liras (42 million euros). But purchases were also impressive and in the end it turned out that they were in the red from this item as well, sinking by another 2 billion liras (36 million euros).
The obvious conclusion is that Trabzonspor spends more than it earns. About 80% of income goes to salaries and taxes alone. So how does the whole system even work?
Like many European clubs, Trabzon lives thanks to bank loans, which it covers with new loans. The other financial lever is an additional share issue, with new securities being issued on the stock exchange last season for several billion liras. 55% of the proceeds from these issues went to cover the debt to DenizBank, 25% for tax payments, and the rest for other obligations.
Now, however, Salah enters the equation with his guaranteed 17 million euros per year (10 million from wages and 7 million from the signing bonus paid to him each season). He will also collect 20% of the sales of the fan articles for which he has image rights. But that's not all. The 17 million euros are Salah's net income, after taxes, which are borne entirely by the club. Thanks to this, the Egyptian earns more in Trabzon than in Liverpool, where he received a net 13 million euros.
Calculating that Salah takes up about 50% of Trabzonspor's salary budget, it turns out that salaries and taxes alone cost over 100% of the club's income.
This means that at first the slump will be even greater, and then everything will depend on the results and whether the team will be able to enter the main phase of the Champions League next season. And until then, there are still some backup options.