Mohamed Salah has a new coach at Trabzonspor after the Turkish Süper Lig club on Thursday hired Thomas Reis, who cited the lure of working with the former Liverpool star.
Trabzonspor said the German coach signed a two-year contract to leave Bulgarian club Ludogorets. He replaces Fatih Tekke, who resigned early this month after the team suffered two losses and were eliminated from the Europa League.
Salah is the marquee signing at Trabzonspor this season following a stellar nine-year spell at Liverpool, working mostly with German coach Jurgen Klopp. The Egyptian star has scored four goals in five league games so far.
"Working with a player of his caliber is perhaps one of the best things that can happen to a coach," Reis said in a club statement, adding he would give Salah "freedom in attack."
Reis previously coached in the Turkish league, taking unheralded Samsunspor to a third-place finish two seasons ago behind Istanbul powerhouses Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe.
"I know this place and I know how intense the games are here," the coach said.
Ludogorets said in a statement that they were surprised by the offer to take Reis, who expressed a wish to work at Trabzonspor with talents like Salah, Fabinho and goalkeeper Andre Onana.
The Black Sea club will pay Ludogorets 900,000 euros ($1.06 million) in compensation for terminating the 52-year-old coach's contract.
Reis will receive a guaranteed salary of 1 million euros for the 2026-27 season and 1.2 million euros for the 2027-28 campaign, the club said.
Trabzonspor, which won the last of their seven Turkish league titles in 2022, are ninth in the standings after five rounds.
Trabzonspor lost 1-0 to Konyaspor last week and will face Galatasaray this Saturday.
The team start a six-game program in the Conference League in Finland at KuPS Kuopio on Oct. 15.
