Trafford rejoins Man City for record fee for British goalkeeper
Manchester City have completed their sixth signing of the transfer window, bringing James Trafford back from Burnley on a five-year deal.
James Trafford has rejoined Manchester City from Burnley for an initial £31m plus add-ons, with the Clarets describing the transfer fee as a new record for a British goalkeeper.
Trafford rose through the ranks at City before joining Burnley for £19m in 2023, upon their last promotion to the Premier League under Vincent Kompany.
As part of that deal, City retained a buy-back clause for the England Under-21 international, as well as the right of first refusal if another club had an offer for him accepted.
Newcastle United were strongly linked with Trafford earlier in the transfer window, but the Magpies are now locked in talks over a loan deal for Southampton's Aaron Ramsdale after City beat them to Trafford's signature.
Trafford has signed a five-year contract with City and is likely to compete with Ederson for a starting spot, with Stefan Ortega now expected to depart.
Burnley say the deal eclipses that which took Jordan Pickford from Sunderland to Everton in 2017, which was reportedly in the region of £30m.
Trafford told City's website: "I knew my journey would look different.
"Throughout it I always believed I would be coming back, when I left on loan when I was 18 or when I left for Burnley when I was 20.
"I always believed that one day I would be back and I worked hard to achieve this moment.
"I always believed that I'd play for City and I knew the only person that could do that was me. Now I've got this moment, I've just got to keep going."
Trafford's only previous Premier League campaign ended in relegation in 2023-24, and he lost his starting spot to Arijanet Muric at one stage of that season.
Trafford made 28 appearances for Burnley that season, though he only kept two clean sheets and recorded a save percentage of just 63.1%.
However, he enjoyed a brilliant campaign in the Championship in 2024-25, as Burnley broke a number of defensive records in their first season under Scott Parker, finishing second to return to the big time,
They only conceded 16 goals in 46 Championship games, with Chelsea in 2004-05 (15 in the Premier League) the only team to concede fewer goals in an English league season.
Burnley kept 30 clean sheets last term, matching Port Vale's Football League record for the most shutouts in a season, with that figure set in the Third Division North in 1953-54.
According to Opta's expected goals on target (xGoT) model, Trafford's shot-stopping prevented 11.1 goals last season, as he was beaten just 16 times from shots with an xGoT value of 27.1.
Trafford is the sixth player to join City during the current transfer window, after Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki, Sverre Nypan and Marcus Bettinelli.
