“I’m over the moon!” – James Trafford delighted with senior England debut as Manchester City exit looms | OneFootball

Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford made his first appearance for the senior England squad in a 1-1 draw with Uruguay last week.

The 23-year-old saw fellow City Academy Graduate Phil Foden limp off with an ankle injury after 57 minutes as a result of a dangerous tackle from Barcelona’s Ronald Araujo.

England took an 81st minute lead courtesy of Ben White but Federico Valverde – who scored a stunning hat-trick against Manchester City in Real Madrid‘s 3-0 UEFA Champions League Round of 16 opening leg earlier this month – salvaged a point for Marcelo Bielsa’s side in injury time from 12 yards.

Trafford also saw City teammate John Stones – an unused substitute against Uruguay – pull out from the Three Lions camp after suffering a calf injury that has since seen him return to Manchester for further medical tests.

Trafford: I’m over the moon after England debut!

It’s been a rather good week for Trafford in the south of England, having managed a shutout in Manchester City’s 2-0 Carabao Cup final win over Arsenal last week to win the first trophy of his professional career.

The Carlisle-born star was then trusted between the sticks by Three Lions manager Thomas Tuchel and were it not for Valverde’s stoppage-time penalty, Trafford would have made it two clean sheets at Wembley in the space of a week.

After making his senior England debut on Friday night, Trafford said: “I’m over the moon to make my England debut. It would have been nicer if we’d won but it was a good game from us in what was a friendly.

“It was a good game and both teams got a lot out of it so I’m happy for myself. I felt good going into the game, I felt good in the game.

“It was obviously a lot of new players, I don’t think many of us have played together but everyone adapted really well and gave a good account of themselves.”

Will Trafford leave Man City this summer?

Trafford returned to Manchester City in July 2025 after two seasons at Burnley and despite being promised a chance to compete for the number one goalkeeping position, the Englishman has endured a frustrating season on the bench since the eleventh hour arrival of Gianluigi Donnarumma from Paris Saint-Germain last summer.

However, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has waxed lyrical of Trafford’s application in training, attitude in and around the dressing room and after pushing to keep his second-choice shot-stopper beyond January, the Catalan will be delighted to see Trafford receiving his flowers for club and country.

Newcastle United and Tottenham have been strongly linked with a summer swoop for the unsettled Manchester City star, who is widely expected to leave his boyhood club for the second time in three years ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.

Trafford said after an FA Cup win over Salford City in January that he will address his club future in the summer and all signs point towards an amicable parting of ways between Manchester City and a player who is too good and ambitious to play second-fiddle to Donnarumma in the longer run.