Recent reports have linked out-of-favour Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford with Tottenham Hotspur.
The 23-year-old has publicly spoken about how his season has not exactly gone to plan. The Citizens signed him back from Burnley to be the first-choice goalkeeper, but when Gianluigi Donnarumma became available, they wasted no time bringing in the former Paris Saint-Germain shot-stopper.
Now, however, Trafford could be set to replace an Italian goalkeeper himself. Multiple reports have linked him to Spurs, who seem to be unhappy with Guglielmo Vicario. As it turns out, all signs indicate that it would be a good move both for Trafford and Tottenham.
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Why is James Trafford to Tottenham a win-win transfer?
Both parties in need of a fresh start
Tottenham’s goalkeeping situation as a whole is not at an ideal place right now. Fans have grown increasingly impatient with Vicario’s mistakes and former interim head coach Igor Tudor even dropped him from the starting XI.
Antonin Kinsky had put in good performances in the few opportunities he had since joining as backup in January 2025. Tudor decided to give him a chance in the Champions League last-16 first leg away at Atletico Madrid. We haven’t seen the Czech shot-stopper since his early substitution at the Metropolitano.
While Kinsky made two errors that led to goals in that game in Spain, Vicario ranks third among Premier League goalkeepers with the most mistakes that generated shots for the opposition across all competitions this season (six). Ironically, Donnarumma tops this list.
So Tottenham are already traumatised enough with this matter and are reportedly looking to bring in a new goalkeeper.
Trafford himself is also probably after a fresh start away from Etihad Stadium. He has been Donnarumma’s backup all season and wants first-team football.
His recent cup heroics against Arsenal and Liverpool will certainly increase his value. Trafford even made the England squad in the March international break. Still, he has played just 14 times since joining the Citizens last July. Only three of them were in the Premier League (all before Donnarumma signed), one in the Champions League and the other 10 across the domestic cups.
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Compared: Trafford vs Vicario
Vicario has featured much more often as Tottenham’s first-option goalkeeper than Trafford as Man City’s backup. The Italian has played 43 games so far to the Englishman’s 14 across all competitions.
The smaller sample size may inflate Trafford’s numbers a little. And also the overall quality of opponents he has faced in cup ties.
We did learn that the average difficulty in shots faced is nearly identical: 0.33 xG on Target per shot on target faced for Vicario, 0.34 for Trafford. But it does make us wonder whether higher-quality players would place their attempts better.
Trafford also edges Vicario in save percentage from shots inside the box (76% to 62%) and from shots outside the box as well (83% to 72%).
The Englishman has saved one of the two penalties he’s faced this season, while the Italian couldn’t save any of the four he’s faced.
Vicario does make more saves per 90 minutes, but is also way busier. On average, he faces 4.3 shots on target per 90 to Trafford’s 3.2.
There is a catch here, however. For all of Tottenham’s traumas with individual mistakes from goalkeepers, Trafford actually averages slightly more errors that lead to shots or goals every 90 minutes: 0.14 to Vicario’s 0.12.
As the number one option, the 23-year-old would be exposed to more of those situations. But it would also give him way more rhythm than he has had for Man City this campaign. Of the two crucial mistakes he made, one was in his second match for the Citizens, against Tottenham themselves.
At the time, in August, he had played just one official game and one friendly since joining. It was only his third match in over three months. The other error came against Newcastle United in the FA Cup, but Nico Gonzalez cleared the ball off the line to save him.
All in all, as mentioned before,Trafford to Tottenham is a match made in heaven. A club in desperate need of a safer option between the sticks and a good goalkeeper looking for more playing time.