Mo Salah is taking a step down with Turkey move but it is about more than just money

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As usual, Jamie Carragher makes a very valid point when he suggests that Mohamed Salah is still good enough to be playing in a competition of a higher standard than the Turkish Süper Lig.

Salah is certainly good enough to still be a major performer in the Champions League but will have to be content with playing in the Europa League next season, assuming Trabzonspor negotiates the qualifying round.

Let’s face it, Salah is still good enough to be playing in the Premier League but you can assume that prospect was contractually removed when the player and Liverpool agreed to part ways a year early. Anyway, Salah probably could not countenance playing for another Premier League club. Not yet, anyway.

But there must have been interest from some blue-chip Champions League clubs in a 34-year-old all-time Premier League great who, by his standards, had an average time of things last season but was still one of Liverpool’s better performers. Which is why the obvious conclusion is that Trabzonspor are paying fantastic wages.

That will certainly be the case. The marquee Turkish clubs - Istanbul’s big three, Galatasary, Fenerbahce and Besiktas, plus Trabzonspor - are spending big on players and contracts despite being burdened with heavy debt.

Salah will be playing in a league that will feature the likes of Victor Osimhen, Leroy Sane, Ilkay Gundogan, Leandro Trossard and Nathan Ake this coming season. And there will probably be more to follow.

But it will take many more recruits of that quality to make Turkish club football a major force in European football. Since Galatasaray won the UEFA Cup in 2000, only one Turkish side has reached the semi-finals of a major UEFA competition.

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Opta currently ranks it as the 14th strongest domestic league in world football, behind national competitions in countries such as Denmark and Poland. According to Opta, England’s Championship is stronger.

That would seem to be stretching it a little but there is no doubt, of course, that Salah is taking a significantly-sized step backwards in terms of the overall quality of the league he is operating in. But aside from the considerable financial attraction - his deal is said to be worth around £14million a year - perhaps Salah just wanted a different experience.

For sure, the Premier League is ultra-competitive and generates enormous interest. Stadiums are full and it is a commercial behemoth.

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But sometimes, it feels a little bit too sanitised, a little bit too polished, a little bit too commercial. Tunnel clubs for wealthy fans, hospitality takeovers. And to be honest, even on the pitch, everything has become a little sanitised. Very good but not as edgy as it once was.

Perhaps Salah fancied something a little more visceral, a little more unpredictable, a little more volatile (a lot more volatile), a little more raw. He might have just fancied the cash, of course, but maybe that was not the be-all and end-all.

Yes, you might have expected him to rock up in Serie A but he has made a fascinating decision late in his career. And it will be fascinating to see how it works out.

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