James Trafford’s selection against Tottenham explained by Pep Guardiola after horror show | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has explained James Trafford’s selection after the Manchester City summer signing cost his side a goal in their 2-0 loss to Tottenham on Saturday.

Trafford completed a full-circle to the Etihad Stadium this summer as Manchester City brought their academy graduate back home for £27 million, two years on from the 22-year-old joining Burnley for regular opportunities.

With Ederson unavailable against Wolves last week, Trafford was handed his senior Manchester City debut by Pep Guardiola and the England U-21 international justified his selection with an assured display in a 4-0 victory at the Molineux Stadium.

Ederson is keen on a move to Galatasaray and with Stefan Ortega Moreno also expected to complete a permanent move away from City ahead of the September 1 transfer deadline, Trafford retained his place between the sticks for the visit from Tottenham.

The Manchester City academy graduate endured an afternoon to forget after making a horrible misjudgement that gifted Tottenham their second goal, with otherwise a very shaky and nervy showing on the ball from the summer signing.

Fresh from being crowned the PFA Championship Players’ Player of the Year for the 2024-25 campaign last week, Trafford was given a timely reality check that there are no handouts given in the Premier League and all eyes will be on the young goalkeeper should he start in net against Brighton next week.

Ederson was available to start against Tottenham but having seen his new signing impress against Wolves last week, Guardiola decided to stick with Trafford in net against Thomas Frank’s men.

“He made a good first game (against Wolves) and we decided to continue (with Trafford),” said Guardiola when quizzed upon his reasoning to play Trafford despite Ederson’s return to fitness.

City are open to selling Ederson and negotiations are believed to be ongoing between the club and Galatasaray but there have to be questions posed on whether Guardiola can afford to let his first-choice goalkeeper leave in the final week of the transfer window.

Paris Saint-German’s Gianluigi Donnarumma has been identified as Manchester City’s preferred signing should Ederson leave before the window ends, with the 26-year-old understood to have agreed personal terms to join forces with Guardiola.

However, Donnarumma’s ability with the ball isn’t his greatest skillset and with just a week to go in the window, there can be a strong case made that Manchester City need Ederson more than ever if they are to challenge for the Premier League title this term.

Liverpool and Arsenal will take some defeating if City fail to address what is now a key issue for them and whilst it needs to be recognised that Trafford needs time to adapt to Guardiola’s methods, Claudio Bravo is the best person to ask just how much patience the Manchester City manager has with goalkeepers who fail to make the cut.