Manchester City have managed to beat Newcastle to the signing of Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The promising shot-stopper is on his way back to the Etihad. Man City sold Trafford to Burnley in 2023, but after a record-breaking season in the Championship, they have now struck a deal to re-sign him.
Trafford managed to achieve promotion back to the Premier League with Burnley last term, keeping a whopping 16 clean sheets over the course of the campaign.
Unsurprisingly, the expectation has been that a bigger club would snap him up this summer, and exactly that is what is now happening. According to Fabrizio Romano, Man City will not exercise their €46 million buy-back option but have instead agreed a different deal with Burnley.
The Cityzens have managed to agree a cheaper transfer fee for the 22-year-old, although Romano did not disclose the exact value of the move. According to David Ornstein of The Athletic, the deal is worth around €30 million.
Man City agree Trafford deal
The news of Man City’s agreement with Burnley will come as a hammer blow to Newcastle, who had spent all summer trying to sign Trafford as their No.1 goalkeeper target.
The Magpies were recently given hope that they would be able to land him as news emerged that, contrary to what had been widely expected, Man City were actually not looking to sell first-choice keeper Ederson.
It had been assumed that Man City would not proceed with the signing of Trafford unless they managed to offload Ederson or Stefan Ortega. It remains to be seen if that stance has changed or if Ederson will leave after all, with Galatasaray pushing to sign him. Ortega has suitors, too.
Newcastle have been informed that Man City have struck a deal with Burnley. Particularly frustrating for the Magpies will be that they were confident of signing Trafford but that they were unable to finalise his arrival because of Man City’s buy-back clause.
Football transfer news headlines today
The FootballTransfers app
Check out FootballTransfers’ new app for all of football’s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.
The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:
