James Trafford made his competitive England debut in Saturday’s 3-2 Nations League defeat by Spain, and Thomas Tuchel has signalled that the battle to be England’s number one is now on. Tuchel said Trafford and Jordan Pickford will get ‘two consecutive matches each’ during this international break.
For the best part of a decade, Pickford has been England’s clear first choice. The Everton goalkeeper has been the country’s number one since making his debut in 2017, and you have to go back 10 years to find a major tournament where he was not starting in goal. During Gareth Southgate’s tenure there was no natural goalkeeper to rival him, and that looked to continue under Tuchel, with Pickford starting all but one of England’s World Cup qualifiers and then every game in the summer.
Pickford’s record underlines his reliability. He has 91 England caps, has kept 46 clean sheets and became England’s highest appearance maker at World Cups, overtaking Peter Shilton when he started in England’s 2026 quarter-final win over Norway. He played every minute of the World Cup until he was rested for the third-place play-off win over France, with Dean Henderson starting. The 32-year-old, who will be 34 at Euro 2028, has saved four of the 14 penalties he has faced in major tournament shootouts.
Trafford, 23, who has made three appearances for England, joined Leeds for a deal worth up to £45m and has impressed since. His form this season has helped Leeds to fifth in the Premier League table, and he has kept two clean sheets. Against Spain, he showed quality with the ball at his feet and made an impressive save to deny Ferran Torres in the first half, but he was beaten three times as England lost their Nations League opener to the world champions.
Tuchel explained his decision by pointing to Trafford’s club form. ‘I think he deserved to get the two matches, that’s why we gave him two matches,’ Tuchel said. ‘He started the Premier League season well and gets minutes as number one at Leeds. Jordan [Pickford] did absolutely nothing wrong but we wanted to use this competition to see how far actually James is.’
Trafford’s path to this point has been varied. Before moving to Leeds he had played only 32 top-flight games following time at Burnley and Manchester City. He came through City’s academy and joined Burnley for an initial £15m in the summer of 2023, but conceded 67 goals in only 28 matches before losing his place towards the end of the 2023-24 season. After starring in Burnley’s successful promotion in 2024-25, with the Clarets conceding just 16 goals, Trafford returned to City for £27m last summer with the hope of being Pep Guardiola’s number one. City then brought in Gianluigi Donnarumma four weeks after Trafford’s arrival, and he became second choice. Despite a frustrating campaign, he started both the FA Cup final and the Carabao Cup final for City before his move to Leeds. He also won the U21 European Championship in 2023 and saved a stoppage-time penalty as Lee Carsley’s side beat Spain in the final.
Reaction to Tuchel’s decision has been mixed. Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson said on BBC Radio 5 Live that Pickford ‘will be very disappointed’, adding: ‘Putting myself in that place, he will be questioning why he is not in that place. If he is number one, then why is he not playing against the world champions? You wonder whether this is the next generation coming through for Thomas Tuchel.’ Ian Dennis said Pickford has ‘never let England down’ and found the decision ‘quite strange’, arguing that Pickford would be backed to play against the world champions. He suggested England could give Trafford opportunities against the Czech Republic and Croatia instead.
The wider numbers show why the debate is not straightforward. In the Premier League, Pickford’s overall figures dwarf Trafford’s, and since the start of the 2024-25 season no-one has prevented more expected goals than the Everton stopper. This campaign, however, there is very little between them: Pickford has prevented more goals, while Trafford has a higher save percentage and better passing accuracy. Pickford put in an excellent performance as England beat Mexico at the World Cup to reach the quarter-finals, but it was not his best tournament. With Trafford now handed two consecutive matches, Tuchel is using the Nations League to find out how close the next generation is.
Supporters were similarly split. Some argued that Trafford deserved his chance and that now was the right time to test the next option, while others praised Pickford’s decade of service and pointed to mistakes creeping into his World Cup performances. One fan suggested that finding England’s next Harry Kane would be a bigger problem than replacing the goalkeeper.