The Leeds player was surprise starter against Spain but, after his solid display, Jordan Pickford’s grip may be loosening
James Trafford looks genuinely affronted. The Leeds goalkeeper’s reaction borders on incredulity. Was it a season of frustration for him at Manchester City last time out, he is asked? A wasted year? “I won two trophies,” he says very simply and very firmly.
Defiance is the stock in trade of a goalkeeper and Trafford has a nice line in it, on and off the pitch. Thrust into the England lineup against Spain at Wembley on Saturday for only his third cap, he performed well, particularly during the opening 35 minutes when the world champions threatened to run riot. Trafford made two excellent saves that kept England in contention, laying the groundwork for their surge into a 2-1 half-time lead. They ended up losing 3-2 in the Nations League opener after Harry Kane missed a 54th-minute penalty for 3-1.
The question to Trafford was valid because everybody remembers the situation. How he rejoined City, the club of his youth, from Burnley in July last year, ready to be Pep Guardiola’s No 1; the replacement for Ederson, who departed after eight seasons of stellar service. And how, after three Premier League matches, Guardiola went out and signed Gianluigi Donnarumma from Paris Saint-Germain, installing him as his first-choice goalkeeper.
Trafford played in the every round of the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, keeping clean sheets in the finals of both competitions 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,” Trafford says. “You take the positives. You play the cards you’re dealt.”
The 23-year-old is looking at a different hand now. It seems as though everything has changed for him since his move to Leeds in August. He has excelled for his new club in their unbeaten start to the Premier League season. No goalkeeper has more saves than his 20 in the competition, nor a higher save percentage than his 85.7%: he has conceded just three times in five games.
Trafford can hear the knock of opportunity with England because, for the first time in eight years, the No 1 position feels up for grabs. Jordan Pickford’s grip on it has been tight since Sir Gareth Southgate turned to him for the 2018 World Cup. Pickford has won 91 caps, keeping 47 clean sheets.
The Everton player has been the undisputed first-choice for so long that there was surprise when Thomas Tuchel started Trafford against Spain and also announced he would play him against Czechia in Prague on Tuesday night. The manager said Pickford would return for the final two matches of this Nations League window – against Croatia in Rijeka and Czechia at Wembley.
Maybe it was not such a surprise 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 that.
Pickford let one in at his near post against the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the last 32 and there were too many times when his sorties from his penalty area led to heart flutters among the England supporters. There was the impression 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 Trafford and Pickford – and especially to pitch the former in against Spain. Tuchel said he wanted to see how Trafford handled a high-profile occasion and the answer was: pretty well. Everybody saw and appreciated his one-on-one block from Ferran Torres in the 16th minute. Not everybody noticed the touch he got to Dani Olmo’s low drive on 35 minutes, mainly because the referee did not give a corner.
Trafford is proud of his northern roots; he hails from farming stock in Cumbria. He is down-to-earth, a little unreconstructed. Does he feel his status has changed since his fast start at Leeds? Bah, he wants to say. “It’s all an imaginary thing, status and that,” he says. “It’s how you carry yourself and how you perform.”
Has Trafford 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 Trafford’s battle with Pickford, which comes against the backdrop of a dearth of English goalkeepers. With Dean Henderson injured, Tuchel was left to call up Jason Steele as his third-choice. The 36-year-old Brighton goalkeeper has played once for his club this season. He made a total of 10 appearances for them across the previous two campaigns. Who else is there? Aaron Ramsdale has slipped to fourth-choice at Southampton. Nick Pope is not playing at Newcastle. Carl Rushworth has struggled at Coventry this season.
“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.”
Trafford is loving life at Leeds and he does accept that playing regularly has made a difference for him with England. “Make no illusions. There are not many players that don’t play that start for any national team.”
And so the dream burns. “It is every goalkeeper’s dream and every footballer’s dream to play for England and start for England,” Trafford says. “Everyone believes they can start. They are just trying to prove that every day.”
