Liverpool & Aston Villa will be sad to see current Jayden Danns, Louie Barry situations | OneFootball

The highly-rated attacking pair are likely to miss the remainder of the Championship campaign on loan at Sunderland and Hull City respectively

Liverpool and Aston Villa will share a mutual sense of disappointment surrounding Jayden Danns and Louie Barry, with the highly-rated attacking pair both poised to miss the remainder of the 2024/25 Championship campaign through injury with Sunderland and Hull City respectively.

The January transfer window was typically rife with speculation, and Danns and Barry were both among the hottest properties in the Championship after being made available for loan.

Danns had stayed put with Liverpool after a back injury prevented him from heading out on loan during the summer, with the young striker having earned plaudits for a promising first-team breakthrough under Jurgen Klopp last time out. He eventually joined promotion hopefuls Sunderland, who beat off a host of competition to land his coveted signature.

Barry, meanwhile, had spent the first-half of the season on loan with Stockport County, whom he had helped to promotion from League One while away from Aston Villa in 2023/24.

The 21-year-old was one of the third-tier's leading operators as he scored 15 goals from just 23 appearances before Villa took the decision to cancel his loan in order to test him in the Championship.

It was widely viewed as a coup when Hull, who are battling against relegation to League One themselves, were able to land his services on loan until the end of the campaign.

However, Barry is now set to see much, if not the entirety, of the back-end of his season curtailed and it's a similar situation to what Danns is facing up at Sunderland, too.

Liverpool's Jayden Danns and Aston Villa's Louie Barry pick up injuries at Sunderland, Hull City

Sunderland's hopes of gaining automatic promotion back to the Premier League have been dealt a number of seismic blows in recent weeks.

Consecutive defeats to league leaders Leeds United and strugglers Hull last weekend have left them eight points shy of second-placed Sheffield United, while midfield maestro Enzo Le Fee - who has lit up the division since joining in a hotly-anticipated January loan move from Italian giants Roma - is now set to miss the next six to eight weeks alongside Daniel Ballard.

Beneath that, though, there ought to be a feeling of real frustration when it comes to Danns, and that's one Liverpool will surely share.

At the 19-year-old's medical, a back problem was identified and he promptly returned to Liverpool to undertake the first part of his recovery process, with a date for contention with the Black Cats very much unclear to begin with.

More clarity has since been offered on that situation, however. As per a recent update from Roker Report, it's now unlikely Danns will feature for Regis Le Bris' side this season, with the teenager poised to see out the rest of the campaign with only a handful of first-team cameo appearances at Liverpool.

Both Danns and Barry were expected to shine on loan in the Championship, but it now also hangs very much in the balance whether the Villa attacker will take to the pitch again this term. Barry has played four times for the Tigers but may have already made his final appearance, having limped off in the 1-0 win at Sunderland last weekend.

It has since emerged that the ex-West Bromwich Albion and Barcelona academy product has suffered damage to the cartilage in his knee, which has seen him return to the West Midlands to undergo rehabilitation.

Hull are hopeful he will play again this season, but the possibility of him having already played his final game for the club is a firm one and either way, it's doubtful Barry will be able to have the desired impact at the MKM Stadium.

Liverpool and Aston Villa will share Jayden Danns, Louie Barry loan disappointment

It's hard not to feel for all parties involved, and the two parent clubs will particularly wish events had played out differently, given the pair have both been primed for long-term futures in the Premier League.

Both Danns and Barry have all the talent to be key performers at Championship level, which is precisely why they garnered so much interest before signing for Sunderland and Hull respectively.

Danns does not have as much experience as Barry, who has turned out for the likes of Ipswich Town, Swindon, MK Dons and Salford on loan.

It looks even less likely, however, that he will kick a ball again this season and continued exposure to the senior game in a division which invariably offers to toughen up youngsters with a steep learning curve would have been vital for his development.

Experience in leading the line for a promotion-chasing team, no less, and learning from a top-class second-tier frontman in Wilson Isidor would have placed Danns in excellent stead.

Barry had been superb on loan with Stockport and found top form following an injury-plagued 23/24 campaign.

It's a real shame that injuries have reared their ugly head to stunt his progression once again, and Villa would have liked to see him translate that rich vein of goalscoring form to the Championship to potentially either promote him into Unai Emery's first-team fold or cash in on the forward for a handsome figure with his stock at an all-time high.

Now, though, it's unclear what will happen with Danns and Barry next season. The two have chequered injury records at a young age and may both need to start afresh next time out and head back out on loan, but it's effectively a wasted year - or a half-season at least in the case of Barry - as far as their development is concerned.