Mohamed Salah left Anfield applauding all four sides after appearing to pick up a hamstring problem during Liverpool’s meeting with Crystal Palace. He pulled up shortly before the hour mark and was forced off, trudging from the pitch to a chorus of concern from the crowd.

Immediate fears surrounded the severity of the issue and whether the injury could end Salah’s season, and even his Liverpool career. With roughly one month remaining of the campaign, the forward faces a clear race against time if he is to appear again in a Liverpool shirt.

Liverpool have just four fixtures remaining this season. A trip to Manchester United next Sunday already feels too soon for Salah if he has injured his hamstring, while the extent of the blow will determine whether a return is possible before the end of the campaign.

Chelsea travel to Anfield on May 9 in a tense fixture in the race for Europe, and that will be the penultimate chance for Salah to play in front of a home crowd in a Liverpool shirt. Arne Slot’s side end the season at home to Brentford and Liverpool will undoubtedly use that fixture to pay tribute to Salah. Long-standing left back Andy Robertson can also expect a hero’s farewell, but fans will hope to see the Egypt international on the pitch one final time.

Complicating the club situation is this summer’s World Cup. Salah will be keen to hurry back to action and bid farewell to his club, but he will not want to risk exacerbating a problem that could affect his involvement this summer in what is likely to be his final World Cup appearance.

The coming days and medical assessments will be decisive. Liverpool’s remaining schedule and the timing of recovery will decide whether supporters will witness Salah one more time at Anfield before the season closes.

Xabi Alonso has emerged as a potential target for RB Leipzig as uncertainty surrounds Ole Werner and speculation continues over Arne Slot’s future at Liverpool. Reports in Germany suggest Leipzig could look to Alonso if they move to appoint a successor to Werner.

Alonso’s availability follows a short spell at Real Madrid, where he was dismissed less than eight months into a three-year contract. The prevailing assessment has been that his brief tenure at the Spanish club represented an unfortunate mismatch rather than a lasting stain on his managerial reputation. That perception, combined with the ongoing debate over Slot’s position, has increased interest in Alonso’s services.

Sport Bild says Werner’s future depends in part on Champions League qualification. Leipzig sit third, five points clear of fifth-place Hoffenheim with only four matches to go. An evaluation of the wider progress of the team could also determine whether the 37-year-old is retained for a second season.

Should Leipzig seek a new head coach, Alonso is reported to be among a shortlist that includes outgoing Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner and Al Ahli’s Matthias Jaissle, formerly of Red Bull Salzburg. A common factor for the three candidates is Champions League experience. The Red Bull soccer operation’s ambition is underlined by the presence of Jürgen Klopp at its helm, a factor that adds appeal to the post for prospective candidates.

For Alonso, a move to Leipzig would more closely resemble his arrival at Bayer Leverkusen, where he reshaped the team into briefly the best in Germany, than his spell at Real Madrid, which quickly faltered. Leverkusen had never been German champions before Alonso led them to an undefeated Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double, the side only beaten in the Europa League final and denied a treble.

Any approach from Leipzig would become a Liverpool concern only if the club finds itself seeking a new manager. Supporters frustrated by Slot and still besotted by Alonso from his playing days might argue the chance to hire Alonso now, having missed out two years ago, is too good to ignore. That scenario would require dispensing with Slot a year early; the contract he signed to succeed Klopp in May 2024 runs until the end of next season.

Mohamed Salah’s time at Liverpool is confirmed to be ending and questions are growing about where he will move next. Juventus’s sporting director Marco Ottolini moved to quash one persistent line of speculation, telling 365scores: “What is being circulated about negotiations to sign Mohamed Salah to Juventus is not true. At the moment, there is nothing regarding that.”

Ottolini also stressed there is not currently any contact between Juventus and Salah, though he did not rule out the possibility of future approaches. The comments make clear that any immediate shift to Juventus is unlikely, even if the club’s history of securing elite names on free transfers still attracts attention. The club has previously signed big names on free transfers, including Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba, Kingsley Coman, Sami Khedira, Emre Can and Adrien Rabiot.

That record of bargains sits against a sporting backdrop in which Juventus have not been genuine title contenders for several seasons, a reality that could lessen their appeal to an elite forward weighing his next move.

The strongest links for Salah centre on the Saudi Pro League. The competition has openly pursued Salah over recent seasons and came close last season before Liverpool secured an extension. With his contract situation changing, clubs such as Al Hilal and Al Qadsiah are expected to present offers that would include wages not typically available at European clubs.

Paris Saint-Germain have also been named among potential suitors, described as a surprise given their current emphasis on younger recruitment. There have been additional rumours of interest from Galatasaray in Türkiye. For now, Juventus insist there is nothing in the reports linking them to Salah, while Saudi and other European clubs remain the likeliest destinations as his Liverpool career draws to a close.