Could James Trafford switch from Pep Guardiola's Manchester City to Liam Rosenior's Chelsea in the January transfer window? | National World / Getty Imagesplaceholder image
Could James Trafford switch from Pep Guardiola's Manchester City to Liam Rosenior's Chelsea in the January transfer window? | National World / Getty Images | National World / Getty Images
Liam Rosenior needs to find a replacement for Robert Sanchez in goal
The next player Chelsea should sign in the January transfer window, but probably won’t, is Erling Haaland. They need a striker, Haaland’s the best in the world but Manchester City won’t sell. End of story. Read more transfer opinion pieces here.
Just kidding, there is a much more achievable player The Blues can target that will fill an equally important need at the other end of the pitch, with Chelsea in desperate need of an improved defensive core. And funnily enough, he also plays at the Etihad Stadium. Despite a strong showing that won him the Golden Glove at the Club World Cup, Robert Sanchez has still left plenty of questions unanswered this season - his third at Stamford Bridge.
The Spaniard’s red card against Manchester United was a low point, but it’s far from Sanchez’s only error in a campaign that began with many backing Chelsea to challenge for the Premier League title. Just two days ago, he gave Arsenal a huge helping hand in the League Cup semi-final, with Sanchez at fault for The Gunners’ first two goals.. While he hasn’t had the ideal defence in front of him, The Blues have had plenty of the ball which somewhat offsets that disadvantage - only Manchester City and Liverpool have touched the ball more this season.
The Leicester City miracle aside, Premier League has always been won by a team boasting one of the best goalkeepers in the league for at least the last 20 years. Alisson, Ederson, Thibaut Courtois, Joe Hart, Petr Cech, Edwin van der Sar is a very impressive lineage, and at the age of 28 Sanchez simply isn’t in the same bracket as those icons.
James Trafford is the man for Chelsea
Man City had their reasons for replacing Trafford with Gianluigi Donnarumma (someone Chelsea also should’ve targeted) this summer, but there is a pretty big gap in quality between the Italian and Sanchez, and Trafford already inhabits that space. He has a better WhoScored grade for the season than the Chelsea keeper despite the Tottenham debacle, and has previously proven his mettle at Burnley and with the England Under-21s.
Somewhat tellingly, Trafford has a considerably better expected goals versus goals tally (effectively a metric of how a keeper is at shot-stopping) per Opta via FBref at +1.9 against +0.9 despite playing only three games, a huge achievement in a metric that good goalies usually accumulate over the course of the season. And on the same night Sanchez dropped two clangers against Arsenal, Trafford kept a clean sheet against St James’ Park.
Trafford has come back from setbacks worse than what he’s facing now, when his entire career as a professional was hanging in the balance, and crucially has plenty of time to develop aged only 23. Now is not the time for him to loaned out again by City, it’s for him to find a club where he make the number one shirt his own and challenge Jordan Pickford for the England job.
Could a Trafford-to-Chelsea deal actually happen?
Probably not, and apparently definitely not in this window. But, we never said their next transfer had to be a January one. They don’t seem to want Marc Guehi and the rest of the squad is big enough as it is. Asked if Trafford could leave in January (via the BBC), Guardiola said: "No. I would like him to stay for many, many years. But the situation of the keeper is special and we will see what happens."
Critically though, he left the door open to Trafford leaving in the summer, and that’s an option both he and should absolutely push for. Cole Palmer’s meteoric rise should show you that just because a player isn’t starter at City, he can still become world-class and Trafford is primed to follow in the forward’s footsteps.
Manchester City would likely demand a high fee for Trafford but they must also be mindful that every season he’s sidelined for Donnarumma will hurt his value. The real question is whether Chelsea are willing to shell out that amount for a player who while young, the club would ideally not make a profit on, because he’s fulfilled his potential and emulated Petr Cech’s legacy by spending a trophy-laden decade at Stamford Bridge.
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