'To be honest' - Arne Slot admits he is unsure on Liverpool forward's future in the January transfer window
Jayden Danns scored in Liverpool’s 4-0 victory over Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup third round at Anfield.
The striker came off the bench to score in the Reds’ 4-0 FA Cup win over Accrington Stanley. Danns was lively during his cameo and in the 76th minute, he earned his reward when following up Federico Chiesa’s shot to finish - having won the ball back to start the move.
Danns enjoyed a prolific 2023-24 season for the under-18s and under-21s before breaking into the first team. His debut came in the Carabao Cup final triumph over Chelsea at Wembley and then fired a double against Southampton three days later.
A back injury suffered in pre-season put him on the sidelines for several months and put paid to a potential temporary exit. Now back fit, he has been linked with another loan departure during the January transfer window, with Championship sides Cardiff City and Plymouth Argyle linked.
Speaking at his post-match press conference, LiverpoolWorld asked head coach Slot if Danns could leave Anfield this month. The Reds boss admitted he is undecided but is confident that the 18-year-old will have a very good career even if it’s not at his boyhood club.
Slot said: “The last thing [a loan move], I don’t know at the moment, to be honest. What I like most about him – and with most of the academy players – is the mentality they have. So, that’s a big compliment for him and definitely also a big compliment to our youth academy because if you are a youngster and you come to the first team sometimes you are used in a way that you might not expect [in training]. Although it is common in football, you are then playing the other team that has to copy sometimes the team we face over here, so sometimes you are in a different position
“He is a striker, but if we are playing 11v11 and I make the choice to play [Diogo] Jota and the other side Darwin [Nunez] is playing as a nine, he has to play as an 11 or as a six or whatever position we need him. But he will always, like the other academy players, give all they have. James McConnell is also a perfect example of that. If that is your mentality you can definitely get the most of your potential. That is what is going to happen with him. What that potential is, it probably needs some time to find out if he will in the end be a starter for us, but he will have a very good career because of his mentality. I am very sure of that.”
Liverpool cruised to victory against League Two side Accrington. Diogo Jota and Trent Alexander-Arnold were on target in the first half, with substitutes Danns and Federico Chiesa bagging after the break. On the triumph, Slot said: “First of all, credit to them the way they showed themselves here today. Of course, before the game starts you watch a few games of them and then you see, ‘Ah, they’re not afraid to press high, not afraid to play one-v-one.’ But then you always wonder, will they do this at Anfield as well? But they definitely did. They were not afraid.
“Their playing style is also when the goalkeeper has the ball to play it long, so it is not that they stole this from the team we played last week, that’s just their style. They showed up in a very positive way. For us, it was all about the players that haven’t played that much yet, to give them playing time and give some playing time to a few youngsters.”