Manchester City are set to re-sign goalkeeper James Trafford from Burnley.
Newcastle United have a long-held interest in the England Under-21 international and had an opportunity to sign him at the end of May before the Club World Cup, when City weren’t considering a move.
City’s plans changed, however, with the 22-year-old now set to join Ederson and Stefan Ortega as goalkeepers at the Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola’s side have matched a Newcastle offer of £27million ($36.3m) with the player agreeing a five-year deal, plus the option of a further 12 months, to return to the club he left in June 2023.
To Burnley, the total package is understood to be worth what would represent a record fee for a British goalkeeper, surpassing the £30m Everton paid Sunderland to sign Jordan Pickford in 2017. Newcastle reached the same ballpark figure but it was decided Trafford would join City.
Current No 1 Ederson has been linked with a departure but claimed last month that talk of his exit was “fake news” and is now set to stay at the club. The expectation is that Ortega could still leave but nothing is close at the current time.
Trafford joined City’s youth ranks aged 12 and spent time on loan at Accrington Stanley and Bolton Wanderers while at the club. He never made a first-team appearance in his first spell.
Trafford’s first season at Turf Moor under former Burnley head coach Vincent Kompany – ex-captain of City – saw him concede 62 times and lose his position in the starting XI for the final months of their Premier League days.
He nonetheless caught the eye of then England manager Gareth Southgate, and impressed last season under Kompany’s successor Scott Parker, conceding only 16 goals in 45 games to help the club secure automatic promotion. Burnley missed out on the Championship title race on goal difference to Leeds United.
He was included in Southgate’s provisional 33-man squad for the 2024 European Championship as one of four goalkeepers alongside Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale and Dean Henderson but was cut before the tournament started.
Trafford’s move to City leaves Newcastle looking elsewhere for goalkeeping reinforcements alongside current first choice Nick Pope, and represents another failed pursuit of the summer window after missing out on Dean Huijsen, Hugo Ekitike, Joao Pedro, Liam Delap and Bryan Mbeumo.
(Photo: Matt McNulty/Getty Images)