Trafford should be ‘raging’ at Manchester City – but is Pep Guardiola to blame for his ‘situation’? | OneFootball

“In a World Cup year, Pep will have given him the full sales pitch saying, ‘you are coming in and the number one jersey is yours. You will be playing regularly, challenging for the Premier League and playing Champions League football and if you play your cards right, you might be playing for England in the World Cup next summer’,” said Shay Given of James Trafford in September.

It would perhaps be fairer to say that Trafford has quietly simmered in the months since.

Not silently, with his comments after the FA Cup win over Salford City the latest rather than first indication of his public disgruntlement at an unfortunate situation. But a largely respectful counsel has been kept, all things considered.

Even this was far from a furious outburst over broken promises and a season wasted. Trafford accepted the “reality” of being put on Stefan Ortega’s domestic cup diet, acknowledged his need to “take it a day at a time”, “work hard”, “just get on with it” and perform when given the opportunity, and spoke fondly of the “lovely man” who had taken what was painfully briefly his place.

But it was not difficult to read through the lines of Trafford admitting Gianluigi Donnarumma joining came as a surprise and that the plan put in place for his revived Manchester City career isn’t what has actually played out thus far.

His part in the Ederson succession plan was botched basically before it began. Around the time of his decisive mistake in August’s defeat to Spurs – the second of Trafford’s three-game run of starts from the beginning of the season, since which he was watched the entirety of their Premier League campaign from the bench – Manchester City’s pursuit of Donnarumma was an open secret.

Trafford would have been justified in feeling aggrieved, undermined and misled. As he said at the weekend, he and his representatives “tried to guard against this situation happening” so clearly knew it might.

But there is no real blame to be attributed to Manchester City, even if they swore to Trafford on any number of numerous executives’ family members’ lives that the gloves would be his this season.

Donnarumma is the better, far more experienced and proven shot-stopper at an elite level.

Having declared himself a “world-class goalkeeper” last year (with some slight prompting from Scott Parker), Trafford might well disagree. Guardiola and Manchester City should want him to, such is the unique, innately competitive dynamic of the sport’s most individualist role.

“I don’t feel bad, I understand the situation, the situation of the keeper is completely special, right? Because you play one or the other one. It’s not like some players where you can play in different positions,” the manager said in January, adding that he wants Trafford to stay “for many, many years, but the situation of the keeper is special and we will see what happens”.

As long as it plays out courteously, the environment can be healthy and mutually beneficial. Donnarumma is proving his brilliance in the Premier and Champions Leagues while Trafford prepares for one cup final next month and potentially another come May.

He wants to play more and vocalised that desire when asked, while recognising the why and how of his current circumstances and what he can do to change them. That he has faced some criticism online for doing so is predictable and bizarre in equal measure.

Trafford has basically suffered for being the first and lesser of two market opportunities Manchester City could not pass up in one position this season. The Etihad club would have been foolish not to trigger the buy-back clause and matching rights which came into play when Newcastle bid for Trafford in July, and naive to examine too closely the dental health of the gift horse that was £26m Donnarumma arriving at their door soon after.

Some might say Trafford was unwise to reject Newcastle and is good enough to start for most Premier League sides other than the one he backed himself to break into last summer, so deserves no sympathy. But the terms and conditions he agreed to were changed a month into his contract and that is bound to foster some bitterness.

There is a clear hierarchy in place for now but it feels unnecessary for fans to go to bat for or take against either keeper as soon as some mild frustration is aired. Donnarumma’s own agent has literally openly discussed his desire to return to Serie A if the avenue ever opens up so Trafford can hardly be condemned for considering and speaking about his own future.

He should be ‘raging’, and ‘hurt’ about his situation, as has been reported. But Manchester City have done little wrong either. As Trafford said: “It is what it is. It’s football.”