Thursday saw a pair of goalkeeper transfers involving Old Trafford and a young Trafford. As Andre Onana (£5.0m) signed for Manchester United, James Trafford joined Burnley.
Handed a £4.5m Fantasy Premier League (FPL) price, Trafford comes fresh off becoming a European Under-21 Championships winner with England.
While their new recruit is highly rated, Burnley have spent £19m on a 20-year-old goalkeeper who has played no higher than League One at club level.
What impact will he have on FPL and will he replace Ari Muric (£4.5m) as first choice?
We’ll attempt to answer those questions below.
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TRAFFORD’S CAREER
After starting as a midfielder in his hometown of Carlisle, Trafford signed with Manchester City aged 12. Always willing to stay behind and spend additional hours improving himself, the 6ft 6in giant impressed Pep Guardiola during a post-training penalty shootout in 2020. One year later, he was part of City’s travelling squad for their Champions League final.
“I was always a midfielder or striker. Then there was this session when they only had one goalie and asked if anyone wanted to go in goal. My dad had a pair of gloves in the car and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll go in goal’.”
Still very young, Trafford was sent on loan to Accrington Stanley for 2021/22 but it brought a frustrating setback when he conceded five against Oxford United and was only used twice more. So he completed the campaign at Bolton Wanderers, this time beginning with four clean sheets from four matches.
The loan continued for 2022/23 and included a streak of nine consecutive home shut-outs, although his final total of 22 clean sheets wasn’t enough to secure promotion via the play-offs. Even so, by winning the EFL Trophy at Wembley, Trafford has already experienced glory and quickly followed that up with some international heroics just a few weeks ago.
| Appearances | Clean Sheets | Goals Conceded | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | Bolton Wanderers | League One | 47 | 22 | 36 |
| 2021/22 | Bolton Wanderers | League One | 22 | 7 | 20 |
| 2021/22 | Accrington Stanley | League One | 11 | 2 | 26 |
Not only did England win the Under-21 tournament, it was done without conceding a single goal. Trafford bagged a clean sheet in all six matches, dramatically saving a stoppage-time penalty (and rebound) from Abel Ruiz in the final.
He may not possess any domestic experience above League One but Trafford seems destined to be a star.
WHERE TRAFFORD FITS IN AT BURNLEY
The thing is, Burnley had the Championship’s best defence whilst finishing in first place. Just five clean sheets were collected throughout their first 20 games, followed by 16 from the remaining 26, conceding the fewest overall goals (35) and attempts (394).
Fellow Man City graduate Arijanet Muric (£4.5m) was bought specifically because he shares Vincent Kompany’s possession-based approach. According to WhoScored, Trafford is similarly a sweeper-keeper.
Last season, Muric made far more successful short passes (879) than any other Championship stopper. His long-range pass completion rate (49%) was best amongst regular starters, as were his saves (76.6%).
We’ll likely find out before Gameweek 1 whether Kompany plans to remain loyal to Muric – himself only 24 years old, so it’s not about Trafford being the long-term successor. Perhaps he just wants genuine competition for the number-one spot.
There may have been an immediate clue on Saturday with Trafford immediately thrust into the starting XI against Genk, despite signing just two days earlier.
“James is a sound lad. He’s got a bright future and I think he’s going to help us already with his performances soon – and hopefully now.
“But in the end, I think there’s no doubt about his talent and what he can become as a goalkeeper.” – Vincent Kompany, speaking after the defeat to Genk
IS TRAFFORD WORTH BUYING IN FPL?
With that uncertainty in mind, it’s probably best to stay away from Trafford in the early FPL weeks. Besides, the Clarets start against Man City before blanking in Gameweek 2, ranking bottom of our Season Ticker over the first eight weeks.
His £4.5m price point includes names like Jordan Pickford, Bernd Leno, Lukasz Fabianski, Mark Flekken and whoever establishes himself as Brighton and Hove Albion’s main man.
Managers will likely observe from afar, waiting for both Burnley’s fixtures to improve and Kompany to decide his favourite.
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