Sunderland’s deal to sign Jayden Danns from Liverpool is not expected to cost them anything – while the player is recovering from a back injury.
The striker was a deadline day capture on a loan deal until the end of the season as sporting director Kristjaan Speakman finally got his man after a protracted transfer window search. The Black Cats had been in the mix to sign both Tom Cannon and Ben Brereton Diaz before the pair opted to join Championship promotion rivals Sheffield United.
It meant the hunt went right to the last day of the winter window. Sunderland fought off competition from Hull City and Blackburn Rovers to land the highly-rated forward.
However, the player will have to wait before he can help his new team-mates. At his medical, a back injury was identified and the 19-year-old will have to return to Liverpool’s training ground for the first part of his rehab.
It is expected that Sunderland won’t pay Danns’ salary while he remains out of action. No timescale has been put on his return but the Wearsiders are hopeful of getting him into the squad before the end of the season to challenge Wilson Isidor and Eliezer Mayenda for a striking berth.
Speakman admits the lateness of the transfer, and the complication of the injury, wasn’t ideal but is happy with the signing and the deal that has been struck with Liverpool.
“When it comes at a very late hour, it becomes very difficult for us to find an alternative,” he said. “We had a really good discussion with Liverpool about the way forward and he can hopefully come and join us at some stage.
“It is difficult when we have two really, really good centre forwards. So at the minute, we felt that we’ve added what was the ideal player in Jayden. So there’s obvious disappointment that Jayden is going to be unavailable initially, but that’s sometimes how it goes in a transfer window. That’s why you have the tests, to pick up these things.
“Unfortunately there are a lot of decisions made in the last segment of the transfer window, and that doesn’t leave you with a lot of room to manoeuvre when you discover some information that you didn’t previously know.”
Danns is extremely well regarded on Merseyside, so much so that he signed a new long-term contract with Liverpool before committing to Sunderland for the rest of the season. he has appeared for Arne Slot’s side on four occasions this campaign, including in the Champions League against PSV Eindhoven.
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