Why Trabzonspor? Reasons behind Salah's Turkey switch

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There has been a cocktail of disappointment and surprise at Salah's choice of club, shaken with the belief that it proves he is "washed" and stirred with the sentiment that it is underwhelming.That conclusion stems from widespread projections of what people willed him do, rather than his own wants at this stage of his career.Salah had planned on retiring at Liverpool, which his family considered home and their refuge of peace. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Mohamed Salah's emotional exit as he says goodbye to Liverpool fans in his final appearance for the club.

And how they handled the negotiations gave Salah the feeling that the side based in the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey is everything he needs right now.After 22 years of heavy sacrifices, including ceding his adolescence from the age of 12 to build a career in which he considered the bigger picture and what his decisions would mean to the wider world, Salah has earned the right to put himself first.It is instructive to rewind to how his European journey started after the Port Said Stadium disaster, had cruelly claimed the lives of 74 people, had shuttered football in Egypt.This is a shortened extract from my new book Only Mo Salah: An Intimate Portrait of the Egyptian King, which is published on August 13.It is Valentine's Day 2012 and the sporting director of FC Basel's golden era, Georg Heitz, receives an email with a "please look at this player" directive.A video is attached, simply titled 'Mohamed Salah.'Heitz opens it to find a 15-minute compilation of a scrawny, supercharged winger, soundtracked by Fort Minor's Remember the Name on loop spliced with another beat."You can make players look very good in the videos," Heitz offers, "but Mohamed Salah did not need to be made to look good. Latest Sky Sports deals or stream PL games with no contract📺Despite it falling outside of his territory remit, the Argentinian filed a comprehensive report on Salah for Basel."There were a few names my network were telling me to pay close attention to, especially from my country Argentina before I arrived at the tournament," Crausaz remembers."But when you go to watch games as a scout, I always believe you need to have your mind clear and be open to what you see."And when you work for Basel, it's not like you have the budget of Real Madrid so you also have to be creative and pay even more attention."Lucas Villafanez, an attacking midfielder who scored for Argentina in the group stages, was one of the names Crausaz had been advised to monitor closely.As the teamsheet circulated just over an hour before kick-off at Medellin's Atanasio Girardot arena, he was listed among the substitutes in the Round of 16.Crausaz, though, took delight in the opposition's starting line-up, where Egypt had thankfully included an attacker that previously fascinated him: Salah."He was very, very, very fast with the ball glued to him," Crausaz recalls."He was so unpredictable, it was beautiful because you could see the opponents had no idea what he was going to do."Momo wasn't the big name for goals or assists in this World Cup, but every time the ball went to him, he made something happen."He wasn't one of those players that are heavily academy trained and all about boring technique, technique, technique.

Bayern worked so hard and fast to get Shaq because he was special and they didn't want to lose out - especially to the Premier League."Then you think 'could an unknown Egyptian really follow the 'Swiss Messi?,' which sounds so silly now." Image: Mo Salah's goal hauls while at Liverpool Heitz received the green light from Basel to open negotiations with Al Mokawloon.Egyptian clubs are notoriously difficult to deal with. They told me I can come to Cairo to finalise everything so I travelled."I went there and I found myself sitting at the table with the whole legal department of the business and there were two guys representing the club."Then they said, 'okay, let's negotiate.' I was so confused, we already had a deal!"And they said, no - it was only the point to start the negotiations."Al Mokawloon, according to one of the parties helping with translation, initially had no desire for a fast resolution when they 'accepted' Basel's opening gambit of €1.2m.The intention was to draw out the process and push the valuation so high that it either put Basel off or made them pay treble what was expected."They thought it could be win-win for them," one of the translators during the deal reveals, "but they did not expect what Mohamed did."While Heitz prepped to travel to Cairo, Salah was on live TV discussing his future and the show's presenter dialled in an Al Mokawloon official to establish the club's stance.'We have news that Basel wants Salah, is there a formal bid,' he is asked by the Onze Egypt host.'We haven't received anything official yet,' is the response.'We want to keep our best players' he adds, before Salah interjects: 'No, there is an official bid.