Man City is about to re -sign with goalkeeper James Trafford of the U21 U21 team for £ 27 million, only 2 years after he left to join Burnley. The 22 -year -old joined Burnley with a value of up to £ 19 million in July 2023.
He made a strong impression in the season before Scott Parker's team won the Premier League promotion rights – holding a clean sheet 29 matches in 45 matches in the Championship 2024/25 – and was honored in the typical squad of the year. Man City has the terms of buying Traffor at the corresponding price from any club.
They did so after learning about the £ 27 million offer of Newcastle – and Trafford decided to return to Manchester. He is expected to sign a 5 -year contract with an additional 1 year extension option at Etihad. He will be the fourth goalkeeper of Pep Guardiola, after Ederson, Stefan Ortega and Marcus Bettinelli.
It is expected that Trafford will compete for the number one position with Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson, who has always been the number one choice in the past 8 years. Ederson is in the final year of the contract and is rumored to move to Galatasaray, but last month described rumors about his departure as “99% is fake news”.
Man City has not received any offer for the 31 -year -old goalkeeper, but the future of German Ortega is being questioned due to the growing competition about the time of playing when Trafford comes.
Trafford signed a contract with Man City Academy in 2015 but was not allowed to play in the first team, before coming to Burnley to have the opportunity to play. Here, he played 73 times including 28 times in the Premier League 2023/24. In the national team, Trafford participated from U17 to U21 level.
He was a member of the European Championship squad in 2023, in which Trafford kept 6 matches and did not concede any goals. He was summoned to the Three Lions for the first time in 2024 but there was no debut at that level.
If he returned to Etihad, he would be Man City's sixth rookie during this transfer after the midfielder Tijjani Reijnders (£ 46.5 million), Rayan Cherki (£ 30.5 million) and Sverre Nypan (£ 12.5 million); Left-back Rayan Ait-Touri (£ 31 million) and Bettinelli.
Man City can develop Trafford into a top goalkeeper, so the acquisition of the acquisition when the academy products move. This is an example of why they put this term in transactions, because it has been proven to be useful in acquiring a talented player in this case.
However, Man City is currently facing a dilemma between choosing Ederson, who is entering the final year of the contract, or Ortega, who is currently ranked. So how is the correlation between Trafford and Man City goalkeepers?
Trafford only conceded 16 goals last season and kept a clean sheet 30 matches, the best achievement in the Championship, equal to the record of Port Vale 71 years ago. He also set a new championship record with 12 consecutive clean sheets from December to February, before he was finally defeated in a 2-1 victory over Cardiff City in early March.
But despite this excellent performance, Trafford still lacks the peak experience and only 28 out of 153 appearances for the first team in the Premier League. The ability to block the shot of Trafford is definitely top and his salvation rate reaches nearly 85% of the previous season.
This figure beyond the numbers of both Ederson and Stefan Ortega, although Trafford mostly encountered weaker opponents in the championship. But he will have to improve the ability to distribute the ball if he wants to suit the team and Guardiola's system, because his 70% successful pass rate is significantly lower than that of Man City's existing goalkeepers.
Partly because Burnley has chosen to play more often – on average, making 55 long passes per game compared to 36 long passes of Man City – and partly because Ederson and Ortega are able to play football from the lower route better.
