Mohamed Salah Welcomes Son Leil Amid Career Transition
Mohamed Salah has slipped quietly back into Liverpool, the city he once lit up on a weekly basis, for a very different kind of occasion.
The former Anfield talisman returned to the UK after his wife Magi gave birth to their third child – and their first son – with the baby arriving in the north west, where the family spent almost a decade of their lives.
A new arrival: Leil Salah
News of the birth broke through family, not club channels. Salah’s sister, Rabab, announced on social media that the couple had welcomed a boy and revealed his name: Leil, which translates to “night” in Arabic.
For Salah and Magi, it is a new chapter in a story that began long before the trophies and the global fame. The pair grew up together in Nagrig, their hometown in Egypt, and later married in 2013. Magi went on to train as a biotechnician while Salah’s career took him from Basel to Chelsea, Roma, Liverpool and beyond.
They already have two daughters: Makka, born in 2014 at the start of Salah’s rise to stardom, and Kayan, who arrived in 2020. Now the family has a son to join them.
From Liverpool to Trabzon
Salah’s return to Merseyside comes just months after his Liverpool chapter came to an abrupt end. The 34-year-old, who had become a modern icon at Anfield, left the club in the summer when both parties agreed to terminate his contract a year early.
He had signed a two-year deal in 2025 and the family had expected to stay in the city until 2027. The bond with Liverpool ran deep.
“They feel at home [here],” Salah said previously of Magi and the children. “They were very happy, [wife] Magi and the kids, they were very happy that we're staying another two years. It feels like home so everyone was happy.”
That plan changed. The contract was ripped up 12 months early and Salah chose a fresh start in Turkey with Trabzonspor.
Family joy amid a turbulent start
Life at Trabzonspor has already thrown up its share of turbulence. The club’s head coach, Fatih Tekke, departed suddenly after a bruising 5-0 aggregate defeat to Hungarian side Ferencvaros in the Europa League play-offs – a stark early setback in Salah’s new adventure.
Yet away from the pitch, there has been cause for celebration. Trabzonspor president Ertugrul Dogan revealed that not only Salah but also fellow former Premier League star Andre Onana have both welcomed new additions to their families.
Speaking to 61saat, Dogan said: "After the (Amed SK) match, I travelled abroad with Salah and Andre Onana. Both of them had new children, Onana had twins and Salah a baby boy. I congratulate their families and their wives.”
“I came here to win”
The heavy European defeat could have rattled a lesser figure. Salah met it head-on, posting a statement on social media that underlined both his frustration and his intent.
"Nothing in my career ever came easy. Bad nights and disappointments are part of football, and I have learned to turn them into motivation and into trophies. Trabzonspor is my club, and I am part of this project, body and soul. Last night will not change that. I know expectations are high, and I truly believe we can and will deliver. ‘I came here to win’ is not just a slogan to me."
A new baby boy, a new club, a new challenge. Salah has traded the familiar roar of the Kop for the intensity of Trabzon – but with Leil’s arrival and his own words ringing out, there’s no mistaking his stance: this next act in his career is not a farewell tour. It is a fight to add more silverware to a legacy that now stretches from Nagrig to Liverpool, and on again to the Black Sea.
