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By now, most Liverpool fans are aware Jayden Danns and his recent loan move to Sunderland was complicated by an injury setback.

The 19-year-old scored his first senior goal of the season in Liverpool’s 4-0 FA Cup victory over Accrington Stanley

Danns notably started the final league phase clash against PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League.

But during his medical examination, a back issue was flagged, which has delayed his immediate transfer to the Stadium of Light.

This is not Danns’ first experience with back problems; he suffered a similar injury at the start of the 2024/25 season, which kept him sidelined until late November.

Despite the setback, both Liverpool and Sunderland have agreed to proceed with the loan, with Danns set to join the Black Cats once he is fully fit.

His rehabilitation will take place at Liverpool’s AXA Training Centre, ensuring he receives the best care before linking up with Sunderland for the remainder of the season.

Danns expressed his disappointment at not being able to join Sunderland immediately but remains committed to the opportunity.

“I’m disappointed that I will be unable to do that straight away, but I’m proud to have joined the club and I will work hard throughout this period to ensure I can return to action and play my part,” he said.

Now Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman has addressed the transfer complications

What did the Sunderland chief say about Jayden Danns?

Speakman admitted that he can’t put a timeframe on his return, and shared his disappointment that their medical test picked something up despite the teenager training and playing as normal:

“It’s difficult to say when we’ll be seeing him at this moment,” said Speakman to the club’s official YouTube channel as quoted by the Northern Echo.

“Jayden was a player we really wanted to sign, and it was just really unfortunate that, at the very end, we uncovered something.

We had a really good discussion with Liverpool about the way forward, and he can hopefully come and join us at some stage.”

“For us, it wasn’t just about adding numbers to the group, it was about quality and personality.

Jayden met both of those criteria.”

The Sunderland chief also defended his decision to continue with the Danns loan despite not having access to the player in the immediate term.

The Black Cats are pushing for promotion this season and currently sit in fourth place, bolstered by their late 3-2 win over fellow promotion chasers Middlesbrough on Monday.

“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,” Speakman explained

“Ultimately, the player has to come and contribute, and they’ve got to fit in.

To find all of that is difficult when we have two really good centre-forwards.

“We felt that we’d added what was the ideal player in Jayden, so there’s obvious disappointment that he is going to be unavailable initially?