Mo Salah's Trabzonspor choice leaves Ronaldo and Saudi project red-faced

Mohamed Salah's move to Trabzonspor has split opinion. In Turkey, the winger's arrival has been met with real excitement, but in England, where he became a Liverpool icon, the reaction has been far more critical. media pundit Jamie Carragher did not hold back, arguing that Salah is better than that. That verdict will sting in Saudi Arabia. For Cristiano Ronaldo, the timing could hardly be worse. Salah was supposed to be the signing that gave the Saudi Pro League a new level of relevance. Instead, he has chosen a club that was outside the top 150 of the UEFA Ranking at the time he signed. Ronaldo has made no secret of his pursuit of 1,000 career goals, and the former Manchester United and Real Madrid great has repeatedly defended the level of the Saudi league, once even claiming it was stronger than Ligue 1 while Lionel Messi struggled to settle at PSG. Those comparisons have lost their edge after Messi helped Argentina come within 90 minutes of winning a second consecutive World Cup in the USA. The tournament was less kind to Ronaldo. Leading a talented Portugal side, he managed only two goals, against Uzbekistan, plus a penalty against Croatia. After Portugal went out 1-0 to Spain in the last 16, coach Roberto Martinez faced serious criticism for keeping faith with Ronaldo, leaving the veteran's international future uncertain. That only made the Saudi project more important to his legacy. There were reports earlier this year of major summer investment in the league, despite Saudi Arabia's decision to pull funding from the LIV Golf tour. That wave has not materialised. Salah, the player the Saudi Pro League wanted most, was meant to be the Arab superstar who drew the region's attention to the competition. He was supposed to be positioned as an even greater star than Ronaldo, with the promise of a lavish contract. Instead, he is now set for a potential Europa League qualifying debut for Trabzonspor against either Ferencvaros or Gornik Zabrze. The rebuff is not about a dream move to a European superpower or a top-five league. Salah has brushed aside the Saudi offer for a relatively modest, albeit well-paying, challenge at a club outside Turkey's traditional big three. For a league that had built its hopes around Salah, that is a crushing sign. For Ronaldo, whose reputation became tied to the same project, it is another reminder that the credibility he has been chasing is slipping further away.