Jayden Danns

A native of Liverpool, Jayden Danns is another good example of how Liverpool FC has worked with its youth system on a low budget compared to its eternal rivals. The forward, born in January 2006, has been at the club forever and has already scored goals for the Reds’ first team. He is currently an England Under-18 international.

Jayden’s physical profile is a perfect match for all the technical and tactical actions that the Liverpool FC striker performs during the game. Morphologically ectomorphic, the young Englishman has a medium-high stature – he measures 1.83 metres. His speed of movement is high due to the amplitude of his stride. His running speed is also of a very high standard for a striker, evident in all his actions on the ball. He’s also a very loose player in terms of movement, given the agility of his body.

The quality of Jayden Danns’ game shows just how complete he is as a striker. He’s capable of anything and everything: creative, by the way, he can get down the pitch to link sectors, and he does it with outstanding quality through his passing. He’s also a strong passer into space, especially the pass that goes through the space between the opposition’s defensive line. When it comes to linking up with his teammates, he does it very well through sublime touches (he uses his heel very well to perform technical actions) on the ball in short spaces, even when pressurised by more than one opponent. Even so, he doesn’t ignore that he can unbalance through dribbling: Danns is effective in his progression, opening up his stride and zigzagging through the poor containment he is subjected to. After that, he manages to control the timing to release the ball to the right teammate, and he does so skilfully and in the opposite direction to the opponent’s pressure – he’s a very unpredictable player and difficult to defend against because he has a total command of deception.

Inside the area, Jayden Danns is equally intelligent. He prefers to come out from the back, executing short diagonals to evade pressure from his opponents and finishing unopposed. Although, he’s not an individualist when it comes to finishing. There are moments when he outwits his opponent and waits for a team-mate to arrive so he can isolate him for the finish. He’s a striker who hits the ball well: he has a dry, powerful, and precise strike.

Defensively, his game is characterised by a good ability to anticipate scenarios by cutting off lines, closing down the central corridor, and waiting for opponents to make mistakes. He’s able to press defenders aggressively and quickly but often opts for clever moves to trap the opposition’s possession and, together with defensive cover, recover the ball in areas close to the opponent’s goal. He has a spectacular competitive attitude, and Arne Slot was keen to emphasise this recently.

Jayden Danns is the closest player to Roberto Firmino that Anfield has seen recently. Like the Brazilian, he is a striker whose game is characterised by his anticipation of scenarios, his intelligence, and his acumen for solving situations in which it looks like he will lose the ball. In terms of decision-making, he’s a far superior player to his peers, which is why his performance is at a very high level.

In the future, I do not doubt that Jayden Danns will be able to be a regular starter for Liverpool FC. However, given the range of options available to Arne Slot, I think the most sensible thing to do would be to see the young Englishman go out on loan, even if the injuries that are haunting the squad end up giving Jayden Danns a few minutes – not enough for this phase of the English forward’s career. Seeing him in a Championship team with similarities to Liverpool FC in terms of playing style could be interesting.