The curious case of James Trafford: Manchester City's increasingly disillusioned No 2

James Trafford’s body language said more than any headline could. Moments after Manchester City’s 2-0 FA Cup victory over League Two Salford on Saturday, the 23-year-old goalkeeper shuffled through the mixed zone, eyes lowered, voice flat, offering clipped answers that revealed a season slipping through his gloves. Put forward by the club for the BBC’s mandatory post-match interview, Trafford admitted the campaign “wasn’t what I expected coming into the season,” a line that has since detonated across social media and turned an otherwise forgettable cup tie into a referendum on his future.

The source of that disappointment is no mystery. Trafford re-joined his boyhood club on 29 July, believing the path was clearing for him to become City’s first-choice keeper. Within five weeks, the landscape shifted violently. On deadline day, 2 September, Italy international Gianluigi Donnarumma arrived from Paris Saint-Germain for £26 million, fresh from lifting the Champions League and on his way to being crowned The Best FIFA Goalkeeper for 2025. Trafford, who had started the season as No 1, was demoted overnight and has not played a single Premier League minute since 31 August.

Speaking to reporters after the Salford win, Trafford confirmed he had no prior knowledge of Donnarumma’s impending arrival. “No. No,” he said, shaking his head when asked if the club had briefed him. “So, yeah, it’s happened, so work very hard every day and then see what happens.” The words themselves were measured; the raw frustration in his tone was unmistakable. A second interview, released 24 hours later, carried the same resignation: “I didn’t expect the situation to happen, but it happened, so just get on with it.”

Within hours, sections of the fanbase turned on the academy graduate, accusing him of petulance and questioning why a player earning Premier League wages should lament a lack of minutes. Critics argue Trafford would have been second-choice even if Ederson had stayed, yet that narrative glosses over crucial context. Ederson’s form had waned and a move to Fenerbahce was already in motion when Donnarumma signed; City hierarchy saw a rare market opportunity to secure an elite 26-year-old keeper and seized it. The decision was sound business, but it was also a blind-side to the young Englishman who had turned down Newcastle United after City triggered a buy-back clause inserted when he moved to Burnley in 2023.

The fallout has been painful. Trafford has featured 11 times this term, all in domestic cups, keeping alive his hopes of starting the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal on 22 March. Yet each appearance feels like an audition for suitors rather than a stride toward long-term ownership of the No 1 shirt. England Under-21 European Championship winner and standout of that 2023 tournament, Trafford fears the stagnation could cost him a place in the senior World Cup squad this summer.

Still, he has refused to burn bridges. Asked about Donnarumma, Trafford was effusive: “He is a great fella, a lovely man.” There has been no transfer request, no public ultimatum, only the steady drip of disappointment from a player who returned to Manchester precisely because he believed the stars were aligning. Instead, he must watch the Italian marshal a defence that recently ended City’s 21-year winless league run at Anfield, further endearing him to supporters who once sang Trafford’s name during loan spells at smaller clubs.

City manager Pep Guardiola hinted in January that “conversations will happen” over Trafford’s future, and sources close to the club expect those talks to accelerate once the season concludes. Donnarumma’s camp has already floated the possibility of a return to Italy, with agent Enzo Raiola telling Calciomercato that “if there is the opportunity to return to Italy, we will take it.” Yet for now the pecking order is fixed, and Trafford’s best route to regular football may lie elsewhere.

For a club that prides itself on meticulous planning, the goalkeeper succession strategy has produced an unintended casualty: a homegrown talent caught between ambition and reality, applauded for professionalism while privately aching for a fairer shot. Until the summer window opens, Trafford will continue to greet each training session with the same diligence that has won him admirers inside the dressing room, even as he braces for another afternoon on the bench.

The curious case of James Trafford is not one of rebellion, but of a dream deferred—and the clock is ticking.