James Harrington Trafford (born 10 October 2002) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for club

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

Early life

Trafford grew up in Greysouthen in a farming family. He was a

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fan. He attended

Cockermouth School Cockermouth School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Cockermouth in the English county of Cumbria. Previously a community school administered by Cumbria County Council, Cockermouth School converted to academy st ...

and St Bede's College. He learned to drive on a tractor and in his early career he would return to help out on the family farm in the off-season.

Club career

Manchester City

Trafford began his career with Cockermouth and Carlisle United, signing with Manchester City in August 2015 at the age of 12. At Carlisle he began as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

but volunteered to become a goalkeeper at age nine. He moved on loan to

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...

in July 2021. This loan was later described as "challenging" due to injuries and losing his first-team place. Trafford signed on loan for Bolton Wanderers on 13 January 2022, until the end of the 2021–22 season. He kept four clean sheets in his first four games, the first time a goalkeeper had done so in Bolton's entire history. On 15 June 2022, Trafford rejoined Bolton on loan for a further season. In July 2022, he signed a new five year contract with Manchester City. By October he was noted for his clean sheets, and Trafford broke Bolton's record for consecutive home clean sheets on 4 February, with the 1–0 win over

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league sy ...

being his eighth in a row. He was able to extend the record to nine, though was unable to have it reach double figures as on 25 February he conceded against

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in a 2–1 win, the first time since 2 December. On 2 April, he started in the 2023 EFL Trophy final and kept a clean sheet in 4–0 win against Plymouth Argyle. Trafford's clean sheet in a 1–0 win against Shrewbury Town on 22 April was his 25th of the season, which broke the record for the most clean sheets by a Bolton goalkeeper in one season. He finished the season with a total of 26 clean sheets. He helped Bolton qualify for the

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, though they were defeated by Barnsley in the semi-finals. He was voted as Bolton's Young Player of the Year for the 2022–23 season, together with Conor Bradley. His performances during the season saw him named in the PFA Team of the Year for League One. He said his time at Bolton turned him from a "long, skinny boy" into a "long, skinny man".

Burnley

On 3 July 2023, it was announced that a £15 million transfer fee had been agreed between Manchester City and

for Trafford. With add-ons, the deal could reach a total of £19 million — which if met would break Burnley's transfer record. On 20 July 2023, Trafford's move to Burnley was officially completed. Due to their sell-on clause, Carlisle United got 15% of the fee for around £2.25m. He became the third most expensive British goalkeeper in history. He made his Burnley and Premier League debut on 11 August 2023, in a 3–0 home defeat to his former club Manchester City. He earned high praise after Man of the Match performance in a 1–1 draw against

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

on 9 December in which he made 10 saves.

International career

Trafford played his first international match of his career for England U17 on 24 March 2018 against Croatia U17 in which he saved a penalty and kept a clean sheet in a 0–0 draw despite England being down to ten men. He made a further six appearances for the U17 including one appearance at the

2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-17 Euro 2019) was the 18th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (37th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth football champ ...

, then played twice for England U18, and once for England U19. On 6 September 2021, Trafford made his debut for the England U20s during a 6–1 victory over Romania U20s at St. George's Park. On 25 May 2022, Trafford received his first call up to the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

squad ahead of the final round of

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition to determine the 14 teams that would be joining the automatically qualified co-hosts Romania and Georgia in the 2023 UEFA European Under ...

matches. Trafford made his debut in the 5–0 win away to

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. On 14 June 2023, Trafford was included in the England squad for the

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. He did not concede a goal during the tournament in six matches, the first time a goalkeeper had done this in the tournament's history, and saved a stoppage-time penalty and its rebound in the final against Spain as England won the game 1–0. His mentality was praised by England under-21 manager Lee Carsley. It was later reported that Trafford had told friends that he would save a penalty that game. Following an injury to Sam Johnstone in March 2024, Trafford received his first call up to the senior squad for a friendly against

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Style of play

He spent his early career as an outfield player. At Carlisle he began as a

but volunteered to become a goalkeeper at age 9. He has been praised for his reflexes and distribution. He is noted for his ability to get clean sheets, breaking multiple records with Bolton Wanderers and winning the

without conceding a goal.

Career statistics

Honours

Bolton Wanderers * EFL Trophy: 2022–23 England U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

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Individual * Bolton Wanderers Young Player of the Year: 2022–23 (shared) *UEFA European Under-21 Championship Team of the Tournament:

* PFA Team of the Year: 2022–23 League One

References

External links

Profile
at the Burnley F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trafford, James 2002 births Living people Sportspeople from Cockermouth English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Carlisle United F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Burnley F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players England men's youth international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Footballers educated at St Bede's College, Manchester