Credit: Man City
James Trafford is an English international goalkeeper, who was a part of Burnley just recently. The 22-year-old was the first choice goalkeeper under Vincent Kompany in the 2023-24 season in which the club were relegated from the Premier League. His performance in the season was disregarded as Burnley conceded many goals in that season.
However, Trafford saw the resurgence in his form in the following campaign under Scott Parker in the Championship in the 2024-25 season. He maintained a historical 26 clean sheets throughout the campaign in the 45 matches that he played, conceding the least amount of goals (16) which was the lowest in the history of the tournament.
Following that, on Tuesday, July 29, Manchester City signed the young English goalkeeper from Burnley for the upcoming 2025-26 campaign. The 22-year-old has signed a five-year contract at the club for a record-breaking fee of £31 million for a British goalkeeper with additional add-ons and a sell-on clause, as per sources close to Burnley. Pep Guardiola has been a genuine admirer of the young goalkeeper since the time he was a part of the academy of Manchester City.
James Trafford returns at the Etihad for second spell with Manchester City
The move for James Trafford was strongly contested by Newcastle United as they wanted to make him a part of the club. However, when Manchester City made the bid for Trafford, he made up his mind to return to his boyhood club and play under the guidance of Pep Guardiola. In his first spell at Manchester City, Trafford had never made it to the first team of City. He spent nearly eight years progressing through the ranks at Manchester City.
Trafford was sent for loan spells at Accrington Stanley and Bolton Wanderers to find game time while he was a part of Manchester City until he made a permanent move to Burnley in the summer of 2023. While the future of Ederson at Man City is still uncertain, Trafford is likely to be the starting goalkeeper for Pep Guardiola’s team in the upcoming season. City fans will be hopeful that the performances of James Trafford lights up the Etihad.
