Liverpool face Sunderland in the Premier League but Jayden Danns will remain unavailable because of injury.
The Stadium of Light will be new territory for all but one of Liverpool’s players.
Virgil van Dijk is the solitary member of the Reds’ squad who has played at Sunderland’s ground, although he might not be able to give the exact date. The Dutchman hasn’t been on Wearside since October 2015 when he played for Southampton. Joe Gomez, the only remaining member of Liverpool’s squad who was part of the last time Liverpool travelled to Sunderland in January 2017, was not on the bench for a 2-2 draw.
In truth, not too many members of Liverpool’s squad might be aware of the full magnitude of the Black Cats. They spent eight years outside the Premier League, with four of those in the third tier. But their return to the top flight underlines the force that the club are.
There is one player at Liverpool who will know a fair bit more about Sunderland. He was on their books for a brief period and was hoping to springboard his senior career. Injuries prevented him from making a single appearance, however.
When it was announced that Jayden Danns would join the Blacks Cats on loan at the end of the 2025 winter transfer window, it was a move that made sense. The striker had displayed plenty of promise when he did play for Liverpool - at that point, he had scored three goals in nine matches. But given the Reds were pursuing the Premier League title, with Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez ahead in the pecking order, a loan was prudent. Liverpool did not want him to stagnate, given he was a cut above the under-21 level.
Danns joined a Sunderland outfit that was pushing for Championship promotion. Head coach Regus Le Bris and the Black Cats’ recruitment department must have felt that the youngster could add something to their aspirations of a Premier League return.
Director of football Kristjaan Speakman said on the deal: “Jayden is an extremely talented player, who fits the profile we were searching for. His availability was always going to be determined late in the window due to Liverpool’s schedule and the demand for him was high, so we worked extremely hard to secure the player.”
Unfortunately, it did not turn out that way. A back issue detected in Danns’ medical meant that he remained at Liverpool for treatment. Both outfits would have been wishful that the England youth international could play some part for Sunderland. However, that was not the case. While the Wearsiders did return to the Promised Land via the play-off final, Danns did not make a single outing.
And some eight months later, Danns has continued to be plagued by fitness issues. He did not take part in Liverpool’s pre-season tour of Asia as he recovered from his back problem. There was a brief return for the 20-year-old this season as he made three under-21 appearances, while he delivered an eye-catching cameo in a 2-1 Carabao Cup win over Southampton to whet the appetite of Kopites.
However, over the past few months, Danns has frustratingly found himself back in the familiar position of the treatment table. The homegrown marksman had hamstring surgery towards the end of last year and is still on the road to recovery.
What compounds Danns’ latest injury is that he would have undoubtedly been in Slot’s squad over the past seven weeks following Alexander Isak’s broken leg. Danns would have been back-up to Hugo Ekitike and might have got opportunities in the Premier League and Champions League.
There is no timeframe on when Danns will be back to fitness. He will likely need minutes with the under-21s before he is even considered for first-team duty. But he remains held in the highest regard by Liverpool. Under-21s boss Rob Page tipped Danns to become a full England international, while head coach Arne Slot recently said that ‘the world will get to know’ his name when he does recover from his injury.
Slot said last month: “He’s been very unlucky in his career until now, but the good thing about him is that he has a great mentality. So, he’s always fighting himself back after setbacks and he has, unfortunately, had quite a lot because this would have been a great moment for him with Alexander Isak being out and the quality he has, that he could have been with us and helped us in certain moments.
“But unfortunately for him, but also for us, he’s faced a lot of injuries in his career until now. But the good thing about him is that he will fight back and come back and the world will get to know him the moment he’s fit again.”
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