Liverpool are facing a problem. In six months they could lose three of their best players -- Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk -- for nothing when their contracts expire.

The chances are that at least one of the high-profile trio will extend their deal -- Salah, 32, and Van Dijk, 33, are more likely, while Alexander-Arnold, 26, seems set to move to Real Madrid -- but the club should certainly think about possible replacements for all three in case the worst happens.

Here's a list of new players who could be the best fit for each position next summer.

Centre-back (to replace Virgil van Dijk)

On the surface, finding a world-class central defender might not appear the trickiest task given the quality of candidates. Yet Van Dijk is arguably the best centre-back in the world, and no data or traditional scouting methods are going to miraculously toss up a ball-playing defender who is such a natural leader, fast, unbeatable in the air and whose game-reading skills are so impressive that he hardly needs to make a tackle.

BEST FIT: Jonathan Tah, 28, Bayer Leverkusen

Tah was outstanding for Leverkusen last season, and has been equally dominant this campaign. There are several factors that make his profile a pretty close match to that of Van Dijk: he's physically imposing, a leader who plays with an air of calm, is an extraordinary distributer of the ball (4.6 progressive passes per 90 minutes) and his elevated reading of the game ensures that he only goes to the ground as a last resort (0.5 tackles per 90 minutes.) In addition, he hardly ever misses a game through injury, and his contract expires in the summer, meaning he will be available as a free agent.

Barcelona and Bayern Munich are reported to be interested in making a summer move, and there still are a few doubts for Liverpool. Tah hardly covered himself in glory during Leverkusen's 4-0 defeat at Anfield in November, mostly features in a back three, and is coming towards the end of his career. But he's the best fit to replace Van Dijk.

OTHER OPTIONS

Marc Guéhi, 25, Crystal Palace: The England international has been linked with a 70m return to his former club Chelsea, but could also see Liverpool come in for him. This season he lined up as the left centre-back in a duo (prior to Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner switching to a back three), despite being right footed, and has even deputised as a defensive midfielder.

Further to his credit, he is club captain when Joel Ward is out and is often lauded for his leadership. He has pace in abundance and defends the box well, but his aerial game leaves something to be desired (62% success rate is on the low side) and his progressive passing may be exposed in a possession-heavy side.

Castello Lukeba, 22, RB Leipzig: Lukeba has been on the radar since he broke through at Lyon at the age of 19, though he has had an underwhelming debut season at Leipzig. Exceptionally quick and agile, Lukeba is also a fine passer of the ball who is typically tasked with bringing it out of defence.

Being left-footed, he'd naturally slot well into the spot vacated by Van Dijk and much like the Liverpool captain, he prefers to use his strength, speed and agility to dispossess opponents instead of diving into tackles. He is also years away from his prime.

Ousmane Diomande, 21, Sporting CP: One of the strongest defenders around, Diomande is brilliant in the air and plays with admirable supplies of confidence for one so young. He's so good on the ball, but is likely to be viewed as too adventurous and still needs to improve his decision-making.

He could have been an intriguing signing to play alongside Van Dijk rather than replace him.

Micky van de Ven, 23, Tottenham: One of the quickest centre-backs around, Van de Ven anticipates the game well, defends on the front foot and is left-footed. Few can match the Dutchman for his attacking contributions -- progressive passing and advancing with the ball -- but he is under contract for another 4 years and there's no way Spurs would entertain offers from a rival.

Alessandro Bastoni, 25, Inter Milan: Another dominant left-footed central defender. Bastoni is solid at the back -- though being supported by two additional centre-backs makes life easier -- and he's one of the most productive in Europe from an attacking perspective (distribution, carries). However, his transfer would cost around 100m.

Right-back (replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold)

Just as with centre-backs, scouring the European football scene for a readymade right-back to replace Alexander-Arnold is tricky. Accomplished right-backs at the right age and available for a cheap fee are in short supply, so it's just as well that the ideal candidate is already wearing Liverpool colours.

BEST FIT: Conor Bradley, 21, Liverpool

Along with Chelsea's Malo Gusto, Manchester City's Rico Lewis and Tottenham's Archie Gray, Bradley is among the top U21 right-backs in the Premier League. Though his technical profile differs significantly from Alexander-Arnold, he's shown enough to suggest that he'll flourish as a regular.

While you may lose something in Alexander-Arnold's composure, playmaking quality and set-piece proficiency, with Bradley you gain the more classic full-back abilities such as ferocious, high-speed ball-carrying, relentless take-ons, and a contagious attacking mindset. Bradley may not have played as much as he'd hoped to under new boss Arne Slot this season, but given the youngster's impact from the bench (and last season's displays), he will surely be a regular soon.

Of course, Liverpool would then need to find a backup for Bradley as well, so one solution could be to look at one player who could cover two positions.

OTHER OPTIONS

Jules Koundé, 26, Barcelona: A player who could actually help replace both centre-back (Van Dijk) and right-back (Alexander-Arnold). Excellent in both positions, signing Koundé could turn out to be a masterstroke. Landing an indisputable starter for Barcelona and France might divert from Liverpool's usual modus operandi but given the chaotic state of the Catalan club's finances, an opportunity may arise. Though Koundé mostly occupies the right-back slot these days for club and country, he has vast experience playing centrally as it was his original position at Sevilla.

Entering negotiations over an indispensable player with two years to run on his contract won't be easy. The huge upside, however, makes it worth a try. Koundé would have little trouble adapting to the Premier League and would offer Slot confidence in playing out from the back, the pace to push the defensive line up the pitch, and the smartness to intercept the ball early.

Amar Dedic, 22, RB Salzburg: If you promote Bradley, you'll need a backup and the Bosnia & Herzegovina international could be a good fit. He may have gone off the boil since his fine debut season two years ago, yet with his all-action, aggressive interpretation of the right-back role, Dedic would be worth a look. His 2.7 successful take-ons and 3.5 possession regains in the opposing half per 90 minutes paints a picture of a defender who is extremely attack-minded and capable of shifting into pressing mode in a split second.

Comfortable on his left foot too, Dedic could even be an option as a long-term replacement for Andy Robertson in the left-back role where Liverpool's depth is questionable.

Forward (replacing Mohamed Salah)

If the other two were tough, it gets even more complicated here. How do you replace a floating forward/winger hybrid who guarantees 20-plus goals per season, a ton of assists, and is playing the best football of his life at 32?

The Liverpool hierarchy are not short of creative minds, yet even with their track record they're up against a challenge here. Most of the like-for-like replacements -- such as Arsenal's Bukayo Saka, Chelsea's Cole Palmer, or Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr. are untouchable, while an up-and-coming youngster won't get anywhere near Salah's numbers yet.

The club's most likely way out comes through team effort, but if Salah leaves, then at least one new attacker is needed in addition to the tactical measures that Slot can employ in order to grind more goals out of the group. Recruiting an out-and-out centre-forward is arguably the most logical step.

BEST FIT: Victor Osimhen, 26, Galatasaray (on loan from Napoli)

Half a year on from his bizarre loan move to Galatasaray, the Nigeria international is still one of the most prolific strikers in world football. While his stint in Turkey has been successful (10 goals in 13 league appearances), some suitors -- Chelsea and Man United reportedly being among them -- may have moved on to other targets due to the lack of clarity in negotiations with Napoli. But he does reportedly have a 75m release clause that comes into effect at the end of the season.

Though Osimhen is unlikely to settle for a wage package significantly short of what Salah is earning now, the 26-year-old is still one of the top penalty area strikers, with pace to burn and experience that could easily see him score 20+ goals a season in the Premier League.

OTHER OPTIONS

Benjamin Sesko, 21, RB Leipzig: Young and full of potential, Sesko is more like a typical Liverpool signing. It's likely that the 6-foot-5 Slovenia international was already under consideration last summer before the club decided to give Darwin Núñez more time to settle.

As much as he's highly rated across Europe for his tremendous shooting ability, long-distance running and opportunistic positioning, Sesko presents an interesting dilemma for Liverpool. Can they justify paying the required 70m to sign a centre-forward who averages only 14 goals per season in the Bundesliga? Should they wait until he averages 20? And if they do, will another club move in first?

Alexander Isak, 25, Newcastle United: The Sweden international is as close as you come to a guarantee when looking for a striker who can score 20+ goals a season in the Premier League. With three years left on his contract, the chances of prising him away from St. James' Park are microscopic, regardless of how keen Newcastle are on trimming their squad and any move would be over 100m.

Viktor Gyökeres, 26, Sporting CP: Isak's strike partner for Sweden may have scored a goal for every league game he's played for Sporting (50 in 50), but having spent 80m to bring in Nunez from Benfica in the same league this is a non-starter. As unfair as it seems -- different teams, different skillset, different nationalities -- Liverpool (regardless of whether the analytics say they should) will surely leave this 80m bet to Manchester United given he only has a year or two at the top level under his belt. And they will take the punch if they live to regret it.

Jonathan David, 25, Lille: If Liverpool didn't already have Jota and Nunez on their books, David might have been a sound option. Out of contract in the summer, he is a first-class finisher who boasts excellent movement and has plenty going for him. What he's not, though, is a legitimate successor to Salah. And at the current stage of his development, adding the Canada international would unnecessarily clog up the attacking pecking order.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Learner Tien, a 19-year-old qualifier from California, became the youngest American man to reach the Australian Open's third round since Pete Sampras in 1990, upsetting a racket-tossing Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (8), 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) in a match that began Thursday night and ended in the wee hours of Friday.

The 4-hour, 49-minute contest had a bit of everything, including -- hard to believe -- a six-minute rain delay that interrupted play shortly before 2:30 a.m. with Tien serving at 5-all, 15-all in the fifth set. When they resumed, Medvedev broke and served for the victory at 6-5, but Tien wouldn't cede a thing, broke back, and forced the concluding first-to-10 tiebreaker that he emerged to win shortly before 3 a.m., about two hours after he failed to convert his initial match point.

"Belief is a big thing in succeeding and winning, in general. I always go on the court believing that there's a chance I can win," said Tien, who showed up at his news conference toting a white cardboard box with a pepperoni pizza. "I wasn't trying to think of the match as anything more important than any other match I've ever played. I was just going to go out there, have fun, see what I could do."

As for the postmatch snack, he said, "It was either going to be celebratory or a binge-y, like, cope. It feels better it's more celebratory, for sure."

The outcome was eyebrow-raising because of the wide gulf in experience and accomplishments between the two players at Margaret Court Arena. Tien is ranked 121st and owned a career Grand Slam record of 0-3 before this week; Medvedev was seeded No. 5, won the 2021 US Open and was the runner-up at Melbourne Park in three of the past four years, including 12 months ago.

"It was definitely harder than maybe it could have been, but, whatever," Tien said on court right afterward, then told the crowd: "I really appreciate all you guys staying out here. I know it's late. I have no idea what time it is."

Tien's upset over Medvedev was the biggest upset in the men's draw by betting odds so far, as Tien closed as a +400 underdog, according to ESPN BET odds. However, the biggest upset of this year's tournament so far came on the women's side when Laura Siegemund, a +1100 underdog by ESPN BET odds, took down 5-seed Zheng Qinwen in second-round play.

"I was definitely hoping it wouldn't go to a fifth-set breaker. ... It was definitely harder than maybe it could have been, but, whatever," Tien said, then told the crowd: "I really appreciate all you guys staying out here. I know it's late. I have no idea what time it is."

Because of the time difference, the match ended at about 8 a.m. on Thursday morning back home in California, and he took the microphone to speak directly to his family -- he said he hoped they were tuned in on TV.

"I don't know if my parents are still watching. ... I love you guys. Thank you for always supporting me from across the world," Tien said. "I know you guys wish you could be here. I wish you could be here, too."

The left-handed Tien played fearlessly and almost flawlessly for stretches, surprisingly getting the better of lengthy exchanges at the baseline: Across the first two sets, he won 32 of the 51 points that lasted nine or more strokes, even coming out on top on one that went 45 shots and another that lasted 32.

Tien did not blink until he reached the precipice of by far his most important win, holding a match point in the third-set tiebreaker when he led it 7-6. But Medvedev erased that with a 122 mph ace and eventually converted his third set point at a little past 1 a.m., then easily pushed things to the fifth set.

Medvedev was penalized a point in the third set while showing the same sorts of signs of frustration that led him to destroy a tiny camera hanging in the net by smacking it with his racket during a surprisingly difficult, five-set, first-round win against an opponent ranked 418th.

After getting broken to trail 4-3 in the second set when Tien delivered a lob that landed at a baseline -- not the only time he did that to his 6-foot-6 foe -- Medvedev chucked his equipment toward the sideline, skidding it across the court until it reached an advertising panel near his bench. At other moments of anger, Medvedev hit a ball against the back wall, toppled a camera behind a baseline and punched his racket bag. He also voiced displeasure about being called for two consecutive foot-faults, resulting in a double fault, during the second-set tiebreaker.

This was Medvedev's first tournament of the season -- his wife recently gave birth to their second child -- and he never really displayed his best tennis. As he often does, the 28-year-old Russian shifted tactics in an attempt to change the course of things, pushing forward to the net frequently early in the third set.

Some mistakes by Tien handed over a service break and a 4-3 lead to Medvedev in that set. But Tien broke right back, then held for a 5-4 edge after Medvedev got docked a point.

Tien reached two junior Grand Slam singles finals in 2023, at the Australian Open and US Open, and played one semester of college tennis at Southern California before turning pro that year.

He just turned 19 last month, and now is the youngest man from the United States to get this far at the Australian Open since an 18-year-old Sampras reached the fourth round in 1990. Sampras won the US Open later that year for the first of his 14 Grand Slam titles, a total that ranks fourth among men in tennis history. Tien and Alex Michelsen are the first pair of American men 20 or younger to advance to the third round at a major since 2003, and the first at the Australian Open since 1990.

The Tien-Medvedev match was the latest significant result for a teen in Melbourne this year.

Tien joined Joao Fonseca of Brazil and Martin Landaluce of Spain as the first trio of teenagers to participate in the qualifying rounds and make the men's bracket at a major since Wimbledon in 2017. Then Fonseca, who beat No. 9 Andrey Rublev, and Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, who defeated No. 6 Casper Ruud, became the first pair of teens to beat top-10 men at the same Grand Slam tournament since Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray did it at Wimbledon in 2006.

Now Tien makes it three. He called what Fonseca and Mensik did "definitely pretty inspiring."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney and Eva Longoria are among the investors in an American group that has acquired Colombian top division side La Equidad.

The group is led by real estate investor Al Tylis, who is co-chairman of Mexican Club Necaxa, and Sam Porter, an executive of both Necaxa and MLS franchise D.C. United.

Reynolds and McElhenney also bought a minority stake in Necaxa in April 2024, with the Mexican team's ownership group buying a stake in Wrexham in return.

The investment group acquiring La Equidad also includes American baseball star Justin Verlander and former NBA player Shawn Marion. The club confirmed in a statement that the takeover has been approved by Colombia's league, Dimayor.

"We welcome Al Tylis and Sam Porter, who arrive with a clear, long-term vision to continue strengthening our club," La Equidad posted on X. "This is the first step towards a future full of opportunities."

A club statement added: "Al Tylis and Sam Porter not only have extensive experience in the sports world but they also have the support of recognised figures such as Eva Longoria, Rob McElhenney, Ryan Reynolds, Justin Verlander, Kate Upton, Shawn Marion and Scott Galloway."

Based in Colombia's capital Bogota, La Equidad was founded in 1982 and finished 13th in the 20-team league last season. Their Estadio Metropolitano has a capacity of 10,000.

Reynolds and McElhenney made a splash in English football when they acquired Wrexham in 2021.

Since the star duo's arrival, Wrexham have been promoted twice and are in the running to do so again as they sit third in League One, behind Tom Brady's Birmingham City and Wycombe Wanderers

Britain's Joe Salisbury and Neal Skuski beat Argentina's Sebastian Baez and Francisco Comesana 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 in the first round.

The 10th seeds are playing their first major together since Salisbury split with long-time partner Rajeev Ram after winning four Grand Slam titles, including the 2020 Australian Open, with the American.

Henry Patten and Finland's Harri Heliovaara, the Wimbledon champions, beat India's Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli and American Ryan Seggerman 7-6 (7-5) 6-1.

Luke Johnson won alongside Dutchman Sander Arends against Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta and Sergio Martos Gornes.

In the women's doubles, Britain's Harriet Dart and France's Diane Parry beat Britain's Heather Watson and Czech Linda Noskova 6-3 7-5.

Olivia Nicholls and Slovakia's Tereza Mihalikova were knocked out by Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko and Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei, the third seeds, while Tara Moore and Austria's Julia Grabher lost to Americans Sabrina Santamaria and Bernarda Pera.

Lloyd Glasspool and Russian Alexandra Panova clinched a 6-4 1-6 10-8 victory over Belgian Joran Vliegen and Spaniard Cristina Bucsa in the mixed doubles, but Jamie Murray and American Bethanie Mattek-Sands fell to a 6-3 3-6 11-9 defeat by Australia's Alex Bolt and Priscilla Hon.

Patten, 28, is a late bloomer who studied finance at university in the United States.

In 2016, he spent the summer break from his studies working on the outdoor courts at Wimbledon as a data analyst for IBM.

Heliovarra, 35, stopped playing professionally in 2013 because of an autoimmune disease that affects his spine.

"I never really aspired to be a professional tennis player as a junior or when I was at university. I just kept doing quite well and it snowballed," Patten said.

"And Harri thought that was it for him when he stopped playing singles. He was working at the airport, had a stint in finance then came back to the sport.

"Now we're both very focused on tennis but we're multi-faceted in our backgrounds."

Patten says it feels like he has known Heliovaara for years, even though they only started spending time together from April.

Their friendship was further strengthened when Patten headed to Helsinki for a week of training in October, staying with Heliovaara, his wife and two small children in their family home.

After the serious business of training, Patten was keen to learn and experience as much about the Finnish way of life as he could.

Regular trips around the capital city to see the tourist sights were followed by some home cooking by Heliovaara - including his speciality dish of reindeer stew.

"He told me about halfway through that he was cooking it, so I was a little nervous about the outcome," laughs Patten.

"It was very good. I was very complimentary and he was very complimentary about his own cooking.

"I don't know what that says about him but he seemed to think he had done a very good job."

That sense of humour, alongside a deep mutual respect, underpins a stable partnership that they hope will give them a head start against a host of new men's pairings that have come together for this season.

The targets for the new season naturally start with another Grand Slam title in Melbourne, before a concerted effort for the world's top 10 aided by greater consistency on the ATP Tour.

"Everyone else is scrambling a little bit and not knowing how these partnerships are going to go," Patten said.

"Ours is a partnership which we know works and can be very effective.

"We're looking forward to kicking on. We have a lot to achieve."

Emma Raducanu said she apologised to Andy Murray over her Wimbledon mixed doubles withdrawal last year as she did not want any "bad blood" between the pair.

Murray was due to play alongside Raducanu during his final outing at the All England Club before his fellow Briton pulled out of the mixed doubles because of "some stiffness" in her right wrist.

The former men's world number one was not permitted to find a replacement partner as the draw had already been made and was said to be "disappointed" by a decision which ended his Wimbledon career.

It meant Murray's last match at the tournament was a defeat alongside older brother Jamie in the men's doubles earlier on at the event.

Murray's mother Judy - in response to a post on X from television presenter Marcus Buckland describing Raducanu's decision as "astonishing" - wrote: "Yes, astonishing."

After a string of negative responses, she later wrote: "Not sure anyone understands sarcasm these days. Pretty sure the scheduling... will have played a major part in any decision-making."

Raducanu addressed the issue after her second round win against Amanda Anisimova at the Australian Open on Thursday.

"Afterwards I sent him [Andy Murray] a long message basically apologising if I caused any trouble, I guess, at Wimbledon, that's definitely the last thing I want," said Raducanu.

"He's someone that I've grown up looking up to and I don't want any bad blood or harsh feelings with him.

"I sent him a long message and he took it really well and responded saying he was disappointed but he understood."

Murray, who retired after competing at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, is also at the Australian Open as he is part of Novak Djokovic's coaching team.

"We're fine now," added Raducanu. "We walk past each other and say, 'hello', 'well done'. It's obviously really cool seeing him with Novak [Djokovic] here as well."

Jannik Sinner recovered from a slow start against world number 173 Tristan Schoolkate to keep his Australian Open title defence on track.

Sinner, who claimed his first major title in Melbourne last year, had not dropped a set since October's Shanghai Masters.

But Australian Schoolkate thrilled a partisan crowd on Rod Laver Arena when he struck at 5-4 to win the opener and end Sinner's 29-set winning streak.

However, the wildcard could not keep pace with the top seed as Sinner sped through the gears to grab a 4-6 6-4 6-1 6-3 victory and a place in the third round.

The 23-year-old is the youngest player to win nine successive men's singles matches at the Australian Open since Novak Djokovic between 2008 and 2009.

Asked how this year felt different to his title-winning run, Sinner said: "It's a different feeling but so many beautiful moments, on and off the court, have happened to me here. It's different but I take it as a chance to do it again.

"It's still a very, very long way to go. We go day by day. Seeing my level today we know that I can improve."

Sinner is competing at the Australian Open for the first time since he failed two doping tests in March.

His doping case will be heard at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) in April after the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed appealed against the decision to clear him.

Schoolkate arrived at this year's tournament with just two Grand Slam match wins under his belt, but he made Sinner look far from his best in the first set.

The two-time major winner struggled to deal with Schoolkate's aggressive play at the net, with the home favourite winning 17 of his 18 net points in clinching the opener.

Sinner had to wait for 80 minutes to bring up his first break point opportunity, but he took it with both hands and it was plain sailing from there for the defending champion, who will face American Marcos Giron in the third round on Saturday.

Collins said the 290,000 Australian dollars (147,500) that she will receive for reaching the third round at Melbourne Park would be used on a "five-star trip".

"Me and my group of girlfriends, we love a five-star vacation so I can guarantee that cheque is going to go towards our next five-star trip hopefully to the Bahamas," said Collins, who will face compatriot Madison Keys next.

"We like boats, we like big boats, we like yachts, so we'll post about it and let you guys know how it goes."

Collins returned to tennis at the start of 2025 after previously announcing she would retire at the end of the 2024 season.

She continues to deal with endometriosis, which can affect fertility, and told BBC Sport in May that starting a family was "one of her biggest goals outside of tennis".