James Trafford made his debut for Manchester City as they won 4-0 against Wolves.
With Galatasaray launching a bid to sign Ederson for £8.5 million, the Brazilian’s future remains uncertain as he was ruled out of the clash due to being ill — which meant the Englishman started proceedings.
The good news for Manchester City is that James Trafford impressed as he stepped up when called into action as Wolves created a few big chances.
Ashley Cole has praised Trafford’s distribution and that was on display as his wonderful clipped pass to Tijjani Reijnders is what kicked off the move for Erling Haaland’s eventual second goal.
James Trafford in action during Wolverhampton Wanderers v Manchester City
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
Pep Guardiola praises James Trafford’s display for Man City vs Wolves
With Gianluigi Donnarumma eyeing a move to Manchester City, who the Sky Blues are targeting as Ederson’s potential replacement, the 22-year-old will have to be on his A-game to remain his side’s starting goalkeeper.
Donnarumma’s agent hinted at his next move as well by revealing that his client dreams of playing in the Premier League as he has been strongly linked with a transfer to the Etihad Stadium.
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However, Pep Guardiola was full of praise for Trafford after his performance for Manchester City against Wolves as the early signs suggest he could become a top-class number one, as he said via BeanymanSports: “From the academy for many, many years and played our first Premier League game away with a clean sheet and had a good, good performance, made good saves. He’s tall, his presence is really good and I think the people love a lot having homegrown players from the academy, playing with us, it’s really good.”
“People identify with Phil [Foden], Nico [O’Reilly], with other players coming up, it’s nice.”
James Trafford stats during Wolves vs Man City
With Trafford aspiring to represent Manchester City for years, he will be determined to remain their number one goalkeeper even if Donnarumma joins the Sky Blues.
As per the youngster’s stats from his latest outing, the former Burnley goalkeeper has every reason to be positive about his return to life as a City player.
JAMES TRAFFORD STATS VS WOLVES
SAVES 3
GOALS PREVENTED 0.74
ACTED AS SWEEPER 3
ACCURATE PASSES 19/28 (68%)
HIGH CLAIM 1
Pep Guardiola’s appreciation of Trafford’s showing against Wolves was justified, considering he made three saves, acted as a sweeper on three occasions, made one high claim and prevented goals valued at 0.74.
While the numbers show that the Carlisle-born shotstopper misplaced nine out of his 28 passes, it is important to remember that he is still a young player and Ederson has set the bar at a virtually unreachable standard for ball-playing goalkeepers over the years.