Sunderland AFC: Jayden Danns injury timeline revealed amid season-ending speculation | OneFootball

The Liverpool youngster is yet to make an appearance for the Black Cats after joining the club on loan.

Sunderland AFC believe that Jayden Danns could return to training in April ahead of a potential play-off run for the Wearsiders in the Championship.

According to Alan Nixon via Patreon, the Black Cats are expecting to see their young Liverpool loanee return to the grass next month after a back injury was picked up during his medical on deadline day.

It's been an incredibly frustrating couple of weeks for Regis Le Bris and his team, but a 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Friday evening has put their season back on track after back-to-back defeats for the first time in 2024/25 against Leeds United and Hull City.

Sunderland remain in fourth place, eight points behind Sheffield United, who occupy the final automatic promotion spot, but they do have a significant gap over those fighting for the final places in the top six and it looks incredibly likely that they will see the campaign out in their current position.

Jayden Danns' Sunderland AFC injury return timeline outlined

The Black Cats beat out competition from Hull for the signature of Danns on deadline day, but it has been a difficult month since they won that race and they have not been able to see the young striker in action yet.

Nevertheless, barring a huge drop-off in form, it looks as though they will be involved in the play-offs and Danns could make his debut for the club just before then.

Speculation was rife earlier in the week, as per Roker Report, that it was unlikely Sunderland would see Danns play at all, such is the slow-healing nature of his injury.

That has been countered by Nixon though, who reported on Sunday that Sunderland expect the 19-year-old to be back on Wearside and on the training pitch in April after he returned to Liverpool for rehabilitation for his back injury.

This leaves him plenty of time to work on his fitness ahead of an incredibly exciting play-off campaign, with the race for fifth and sixth place still incredibly tight between multiple clubs.

Danns has made four appearances for the Reds' first team this season, and scored in the FA Cup against Accrington Stanley in the third round in January. He then made his Champions League debut away to PSV Eidenhoven just days before his move to Sunderland was confirmed.

Sunderland AFC need to put winning run together ahead of Jayden Danns' arrival

While they are not mathematically out of the running for a top two finish, the form of Leeds and Sheffield United will make it incredibly difficult for the Black Cats to close the gap back up and re-overtake their promotion rivals.

Therefore, full focus will now be on ending the season strongly without any further injuries so that the squad is as strong as possible for the play-offs.

The threat of those below Sunderland has increased slightly after their defeats to the Whites and Tigers, with Coventry City in particular in incredibly impressive form at this moment in time.

Danns coming back to training will be a huge boost for Le Bris and the rest of his team, but they must not push him too quickly to get back to full fitness for the final games of the campaign, as the play-offs are far more important.

He has proven already in his short career that he has the ability to score important goals, and Sunderland will be hoping that he can make an impact once he makes his way out on to the pitch in red-and-white stripes for the first time.