James Trafford does not accept the premise. Asked whether last season at Manchester City amounted to a wasted year, the Leeds goalkeeper’s reaction borders on incredulity. “I won two trophies,” he says, very simply and very firmly.
That defiance was on display at Wembley on Saturday, when Trafford was thrust into the England lineup against Spain for only his third cap and performed well, particularly across the opening 35 minutes as the world champions threatened to run riot. He made two excellent saves that kept England in contention and laid the groundwork for their surge into a 2-1 half-time lead. England ended up losing 3-2 in the Nations League opener after Harry Kane missed a 54th-minute penalty for 3-1.
The detail of those saves mattered. Trafford blocked Ferran Torres one-on-one in the 16th minute, a moment everybody saw and appreciated. Fewer noticed the touch he got to Dani Olmo’s low drive on 35 minutes, largely because the referee did not award a corner.
The question about his City season was a fair one, because the sequence of events is well remembered. Trafford rejoined the club of his youth from Burnley in July last year, ready to be Pep Guardiola’s No 1 and the replacement for Ederson, who had departed after eight seasons of service. Then, after three Premier League matches, Guardiola signed Gianluigi Donnarumma from Paris Saint-Germain and installed him as first choice.
Trafford’s response was to play every round of the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup, keeping clean sheets in both finals as City beat Arsenal and Chelsea respectively. “It obviously wasn’t ideal how it panned out but looking back … I got two trophies to my name that I played every game in,” he says. “You take the positives. You play the cards you’re dealt.”
The hand looks different now. Since his move to Leeds in August, the 23-year-old has excelled in an unbeaten start to the Premier League season for his new club. No goalkeeper has made more saves than his 20 in the competition, and no goalkeeper has a higher save percentage than his 85.7%; he has conceded just three times in five games.
That form has put him within earshot of an opportunity that has not existed for eight years. Jordan Pickford’s hold on the England No 1 shirt has been tight since Sir Gareth Southgate turned to him for the 2018 World Cup, a period in which he has won 91 caps and kept 47 clean sheets. It was a surprise, then, when Thomas Tuchel started Trafford against Spain and also announced he would play him against Czechia in Prague on Tuesday night. Tuchel said Pickford would return for the final two matches of this Nations League window, against Croatia in Rijeka and Czechia at Wembley.
Perhaps the decision was less of a shock given that Pickford did not totally convince at the World Cup over the summer. He was beaten from distance a few times when it was possible to wonder whether he might have done better. When Enzo Fernández’s shot fizzed past him for Argentina in the semi-final defeat, Jude Bellingham could be seen to exclaim: “It’s [in] the middle of the goal.” The England midfielder was not alone in thinking it. Pickford also let one in at his near post against the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the last 32, and there were too many occasions when his sorties from his penalty area led to heart flutters among England supporters. The impression was that he was sailing close to a grisly error; it must be said that it did not happen.
It is impossible not to read into Tuchel’s decision to share the minutes between the two goalkeepers, and especially to pitch Trafford in against Spain. Tuchel said he wanted to see how Trafford handled a high-profile occasion. The answer was: pretty well.
All of this plays out against a shortage of English goalkeepers. With Dean Henderson injured, Tuchel was left to call up Jason Steele as third choice; the 36-year-old Brighton goalkeeper has played once for his club this season and made a total of 10 appearances for them across the previous two campaigns. Elsewhere, Aaron Ramsdale has slipped to fourth choice at Southampton, Nick Pope is not playing at Newcastle, and Carl Rushworth has struggled at Coventry this season.
Trafford, who hails from farming stock in Cumbria and is proud of his northern roots, is not inclined to dress up his own position. Does he feel his status has changed since his fast start at Leeds? “It’s all an imaginary thing, status and that,” he says. “It’s how you carry yourself and how you perform.” Has he taken extra confidence into the England camp? “No. Your ability doesn’t change whether you’re playing or not playing. It’s just how you think of it in your head.”
There is nothing imaginary about the contest with Pickford, even if the two get on well. “Me and Picks are both northern lads and we get along really well,” Trafford says. “It’s just the reality in football that everyone competes for the starting XI.” He accepts that playing regularly at Leeds has made a difference with England — “Make no illusions. There are not many players that don’t play that start for any national team” — and the ambition is unchanged. “It is every goalkeeper’s dream and every footballer’s dream to play for England and start for England,” he says. “Everyone believes they can start. They are just trying to prove that every day.”