Manchester City hold firm transfer stance on James Trafford ahead of January market | OneFootball

Officials at Manchester City are standing firm in their stance regarding James Trafford ahead of the upcoming January transfer window, it is being reported.

Trafford has been linked with a departure from the Etihad Stadium as early as January 2026, having struggled for minutes under Pep Guardiola following Gianluigi Donnarumma’s deadline day arrival from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer transfer window.

The 23-year-old was brought into the club by director of football Hugo Viana as part of a major revamp of the first-team ranks at the Etihad Stadium, with Trafford returning to his boyhood club after two seasons of regular football at Burnley.

Manchester City began the 2025-26 campaign with four first-team goalkeepers in the senior squad and Trafford was elected to start each of the Blues’ opening trio of Premier League games – against Wolves, Tottenham and Brighton.

After managing a shutout in City’s Premier League opening day win away at Wolves, Trafford made his first major error under Guardiola as he was culpable for a goal the Blues gave away in a 2-0 defeat at home to Tottenham the week after.

Trafford retained his starting place against Brighton but as Ederson completed a deadline day switch to Fenerbahce, Manchester City put the finishing touches on their pursuit of Donnarumma, who joined the Blues from PSG for a cut-price £26 million on the final day of a roller coaster transfer window.

Since the Italy international stepped foot in Manchester, Trafford has seen minutes hard to come by and having been promised that he would be City’s first-choice goalkeeper in the seasons to come in conversations leading to his return in the summer, the Englishman is open to leaving Manchester City in the January 2026 transfer window.

Guardiola still considers Trafford part of his plans and would be advising Viana against sanctioning a sale for the Manchester City academy graduate, who is under contract at the Etihad Stadium till 2029.

According to the information of Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke, Manchester City have no intention of allowing James Trafford to leave the club in the upcoming January transfer window.

City are highly likely to allow fourth-choice goalkeeper Stefan Ortega to leave in January after the 33-year-old decided to stay put in the summer despite being told that he was free to leave and surplus to requirements by Guardiola.

There will not be a dearth of suitors for Trafford midway through a World Cup campaign and the Carlisle-born star will want to rectify his club situation, as it is simply not ideal for a player as young as the City man to move clubs in the summer and not be playing week-in, week-out.

Manchester City are unlikely to stand in Trafford’s way should he express a desire to leave the club permanently in January – with a loan unlikely owing to the fact that he is homegrown – though the out-of-favour shotstopper could also decide to wait till the summer of 2026 to head towards the exit door.