Trafford off to Burnley

James Trafford: Burnley agree £15m fee for Manchester City & England Under-21 goalkeeper

Newly promoted Burnley have agreed an initial £15m deal to sign goalkeeper James Trafford from Manchester City.

The fee could rise to £19m with add-ons for the 20-year-old, who is currently on international duty with England at the European Under-21 Championship.

Trafford, who is yet to appear in the Premier League, has spent the previous two seasons on loan in League One with Accrington and Bolton.

Burnley face champions City in their top-flight opener on 11 August.

City have included a buy-back option into the deal for Trafford, who now has to complete a medical and agree personal terms with the Clarets.

Trafford, who is yet to concede a goal for England in their run to the semi-finals of the Under-21 Euros, will be the second goalkeeper to arrive at Turf Moor this summer.

Manager Vincent Kompany signed goalkeeper Lawrence Vigoroux from Leyton Orient in June, while another former City player, Kosovo international Arijanet Muric, was the club's number one last term, featuring 41 times as they won the Championship convincingly.

Burnley also signed Republic of Ireland defender Dara O'Shea from West Brom this summer, while Jordan Beyer's loan move from Borussia Monchengladbach was made permanent in May.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66093009

Just seen he's off to Burnley in a £15million deal. Good luck to him, he 's going to turn into a very good keeper.

Not sure he'll be their number 1 at the start of the season but it will be great to see him in the Prem and know that BWFC played a massive part in his development.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66093009

Good luck to the lad.

Sorry Sluffy didn't realise you had done a thread already, Nat would be shouting at us again 

That’s a great move for him but I question whether he’s actually anywhere near PL standard yet? I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he spends the season on loan at a Championship club much as I expect young Bradley to also do if he doesn’t come back to us?

Whitesince63 wrote:That’s a great move for him but I question whether he’s actually anywhere near PL standard yet? I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he spends the season on loan at a Championship club much as I expect young Bradley to also do if he doesn’t come back to us?

He's doing very well at the U21 Euros but I also wonder how he'd fare in the PL at this stage of his development. Sure he's come on in leaps and bounds in his 18 months with us but it begs the question of how further he can go.
Burnley fans are a bit bemused by it. They had Muric on loan (who was ahead of Trafford at City) and £15 mill plus add-ons is a lot of money especially as they feel they need to spend substantially elsewhere in the team. To some extent they've fallen foul of the loan player curse (like us) e.g. they got the best out of Tella on loan and now his "value" has rocketed so they'll have to pay through the nose to sign him permanently.
Strange one the Trafford deal  - but just like us, they don't know what the transfer masterplan is.

Bit of a shame he's ended up at a tin pot club. He'll be in the championship next year. 

Good luck to the lad though.

I can't fathom it myself.  He fancied himself as City's #1 - so how does move to Burnley make any sense. He would have been better off staying with us. 
Still good luck to him.

A BBC article on him today for anyone who is interested -

James Trafford: From farm to the final, is this England's future number one?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66121133

Good luck to him. From the games I saw, he looked to be on his way to becoming a very good keeper. Hopefully he gets some game time and Premier League experience but I can’t help thinking that he’d be better off at a top half Championship side with a guaranteed starting spot. We’ll see. I just hope we have a replacement as good if not better.

As good as James was for us last year I just don’t see him as a PL keeper at the moment, still a little lightweight and didn’t really command his area. I think City realise this and have taken the opportunity to capitalise on him whilst they can always with the safeguards of sell on fees and even a buy back clause if he proves himself. Pretty smart on City’s part I think with all the risk passing to Burnley. All that said I hope I’m underestimating the lad and he proves himself both at PL and international level.

boltonbonce wrote:

I saw this yesterday. Two fantastic saves!

karlypants wrote:

I saw this yesterday. Two fantastic saves!

Not to take any credit away from his U21 achievements but it was a piss poor penalty.
Did I read somewhere that the Burnley transfer wasn’t actually concluded yet? If not, I’ll bet City have had other interest over the weekend.