A major surprise: will Mohamed Salah be granted Turkish citizenship?

An exceptional step off the pitch

Egyptian star Mohamed Salah looks set for an extraordinary surprise in Turkey. Press reports have revealed moves to grant the Trabzonspor man Turkish citizenship.

Mohamed El-Kaoud, correspondent for the "BBC" network, spilled the details via his official account on the social media platform "Facebook", confirming a push to hand the Egyptian star Turkish citizenship.

El-Kaoud said: "I have learned that Mohamed Salah will obtain Turkish citizenship, in addition to his wife and his three children. Salah will be awarded the State Medal for Distinguished Service at a grand ceremony, and he will also receive a high-level honour, after he contributed to achieving a major leap on both the sporting and tourism levels in record time."

The news lands as Salah continues his journey with Trabzonspor. He featured in his side's 2-0 win over Gaziantep on Sunday, in the tenth round of the Turkish league.

That victory tightened Trabzonspor's grip among the leading pack. It lifted them to 22 points and third place in the table, keeping them on the heels of leaders Galatasaray by just three points.

Brilliant on the pitch, and now the talk of citizenship and an official honour off it. Salah could be heading into an exceptional phase of his Turkish adventure, should these moves be confirmed.