Now an astonishing 12 clean sheets in a row – Newcastle United set to finally sign goalkeeper | OneFootball

Newcastle United are finally set to get their man.

James Trafford has been linked to Newcastle United for some considerable time.

Indeed, The Mail report that; ‘The Burnley goalkeeper had agreed to join [Newcastle United] last August only for the deal not to happen, much to the surprise and disappointment of some of those involved.’

No doubt that a major issue back in summer 2024, was the PSR situation at Newcastle United.

However, after a painful PSR affected time period that has seen United not buying any first eleven contender these last three transfer windows, that is all se to change.

Having put serious essential investment into the playing squad in the early transfer windows following the takeover, it left the club in the PSR position of having to rein in the spending and indeed, sell two promising young players to bring in £68m to avoid breaking PSR limits. That was for the three year period up to the end of June 2024.

However, once we get to the end of Newcastle United’s current financial year on 30 June 2025, from 1 July 2025 the club can once again move forward.

Part of that The Mail say, is that James Trafford will now finally arrive at St James’ Park this summer.

The Mail report that their sources have told them that there is ‘extreme confidence’ that Eddie Howe will sign James Trafford at the end of this season, with the 22 year old still very keen on the move, despite the disappointment it didn’t happen last summer.

Kicking off last season in the Premier League, it turned into a nightmare for the then 21 year old, a very poor Burnley side playing open football under Vincent Kompany was ruthlessly exposed. James Trafford shellshocked as he conceded 62 goals in 28 Premier League matches and ended up dropped for the final stages of the relegation season. In the other ten PL matches when Trafford didn’t play, only 16 goals conceded as Burnley ended the season second bottom.

A very different season this time, James Trafford massively regrowing his confidence with some quite incredible stats.

On Friday night, James Trafford and Burnley made it 12 Championship games in a row without conceding a single goal!

Whilst in total, in 34 league games (Trafford starting 33 of them) this season, Burnley have only conceded nine goals! Four goals in 17 games at home, five in 17 away.

Last night’s 4-0 home win over Sheffield Wednesday and latest clean sheet for James Trafford, doesn’t however leave them promotion certainties. Going into last night’s match, no team in the top 13 of the second tier had scored less than Burnley’s 39 goals. It looks between three teams for two automatic promotion spots and Sheffield United and Leeds are still two and four points respectively above them and the top two have a game in hand on Burnley.

This run of 12 clean sheets in a row included a goalless draw against Sunderland, when James Trafford saved two penalties back in January.

The Mail report that last season Newcastle United were set to pay £16m for James Trafford last summer and that whilst the transfer fee will be higher in this next transfer window, the young keeper wants to move and only has two years left on his Burnley contract. So the transfer fee kept in check to an extent.

The report says that Newcastle scouts have continued to watch James Trafford extensively this season and that his ‘ball-playing attributes are seen as key to the Newcastle United team’s long-term evolution’…

Just as importantly, the fact that he has been ‘quite’ good at keeping the ball out of the net is a huge plus. The stats are remarkable, in the last 28 Championship games, James Trafford has only conceded five goals and has kept 23 clean sheets in those last 28 league matches.

It looks set to be a very interesting 2025/26 season at Newcastle United, with the prospect of two former Burnley keepers fighting it out for top spot, whilst Martin Dubravka has just signed a new contract to the end of June 2026, so it will be also interesting to see what happens with the 36 year old this summer.