Núñez Joins Salah at Trabzonspor – Wage Structure Shift

Darwin Núñez is on the move again, and this time the story isn’t just about where he’s going. It’s about how much he’s taking with him.

The Al-Hilal striker is set to join Mohamed Salah at Trabzonspor on a one-season loan, according to Saudi outlet Al-Yaum, citing Turkish newspaper Sözcü. The pair, who once shared a dressing room at Liverpool, will be reunited on the shores of the Black Sea next season. Only now, the Uruguayan will be the one on the heavier pay packet.

Núñez will retain the full salary he earns at Al-Hilal: a staggering 22 million euros for the year. That figure eclipses Salah’s Trabzonspor wage by a clear margin, with the Egyptian reportedly on 17 million euros. The dynamic that once defined Liverpool’s attack — Salah the undisputed star, Núñez the support act — suddenly looks very different on the balance sheet.

The numbers behind the deal are striking. Trabzonspor will pay just 8 million euros of Núñez’s salary. Al-Hilal will cover the remaining 14 million, a financial compromise that underlines how eager the Saudi club are to move the striker on after a disappointing first season.

Núñez struggled to convince in the first half of last campaign and then vanished from the domestic squad list altogether in the second. For a marquee arrival, it was a brutal fall. For Al-Hilal, this loan is a reset button. For Trabzonspor, it is an opportunity they could not normally afford.

The reunion carries a strong sense of déjà vu. Between 2022 and 2025, Salah and Núñez shared the Liverpool frontline, the Egyptian firmly established as the club’s talisman. Salah’s influence in that period was immense, driving Liverpool to a second Premier League title and ending a five-year wait for the trophy. Núñez, at times erratic but always explosive, played in the shadow of a modern Anfield great.

Now the setting changes. No Anfield, no Premier League, no Kop. Instead, a fervent Trabzonspor fanbase, a different kind of pressure, and a league where the spotlight is growing sharper every year.

Salah has already made his leap. He signed a two-year deal with Trabzonspor earlier this summer, closing the book on a nine-year Liverpool chapter that began in 2017 and reshaped the club’s modern history. His arrival in Turkey was a statement of intent. The move for Núñez turns that intent into a full-scale attacking project.

For Trabzonspor, the equation is simple: they are getting a 22-million-euro-a-year striker for a little more than a third of the cost. For Núñez, it is a chance to rebuild his reputation alongside a forward who once defined the standard he was chasing. For Salah, it is a familiar face in a new dressing room, and a partner whose ceiling still feels untapped.

They once hunted titles together in England. Now they’ll chase a different prize in Turkey, with the roles — and the wages — intriguingly flipped.