James Trafford will rejoin Manchester City from Burnley after the club matched a £27m offer from Newcastle for the goalkeeper, who will sign a five-year deal at the Etihad Stadium.
The 22-year-old started his career at City after joining the academy from Carlisle. He never made a first-team appearance for the club, spending time on loan at Accrington, Bolton and Burnley before moving to Turf Moor for £14m.
Trafford will join Ederson and Stefan Ortega at City in the battle to be first choice. Ederson has been a regular under Pep Guardiola but is a target for Galatasaray, while Ortega has been the subject of numerous inquiries this summer.
Newcastle had targeted Trafford for the past two seasons and thought they had convinced him to move to St James’ Park, only to be beaten to him by City, who included a matching rights clause when they sold Trafford to Burnley.
Trafford spent a season in the Premier League under the former City captain Vincent Kompany. Like most of the Burnley team, the goalkeeper struggled and was eventually dropped in favour of Arijanet Muric.
Last season, Trafford rebuilt his reputation in the Championship as part of a rigid Burnley defence, helping them finish second in the league to earn promotion. He has regularly been named in England squads but his yet to make his international debut.
Another team hoping for promotion from the Championship this season, Wrexham, have made an ambitious approach for Christian Eriksen, according to the former Manchester United midfielder’s agent. The 33-year-old Denmark international is without a club after his contract with United expired at the end of the 2024-25 season.
Manchester United head coach, Ruben Amorim, insists the club will not sell unwanted players cheaply and is prepared to welcome them back into the fold if necessary.
Alejandro Garnacho, Jadon Sancho, Antony and Tyrell Malacia were left out of the tour of the United States – Marcus Rashford subsequently went on loan to Barcelona – and the so-called "bomb squad" have been training at the club's Carrington complex.
United's transfer dealings have been widely criticised in recent seasons and Amorim said chief executive, Omar Berrada, and sporting director, Jason Wilcox, would not be taken advantage of just to get rid of those surplus to requirements.
"Some players have to find a new place to have more space in the team and others clearly show they want a new challenge and want new teams," Amorim told a press conference before a friendly against West Ham on Saturday.
"We are just allowing these players to have time to think and to decide. If we reach a point where they have to join the team, they will join the team because they are our players.
"I know for a fact that these people, Omar and Jason, and the club have a number [price] for these players. If they don't reach that, they will be Manchester United players, no doubt about that.
"I understand clubs are maybe waiting for the last minute, but they can have a surprise and I'm ready. I'm ready to receive the players.
"They have more competition - if you want to play in the World Cup you need to play, so I'm really happy with that because I have more options. If they have to fight each other to play, for me it is perfect."
Eriksen’s agent, Martin Schoots, told the Daily Mail: “Wrexham are really upgrading everything both on and off the field, and it is a hugely impressive project, as you can see from the presence of people like [chief executive] Michael Williamson there. But Christian still wants to play in a first-tier competition and he absolutely wants to stay in Western Europe. There are some contacts going on but it has to suit both sides.”
Wrexham’s Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have shown plenty of ambition ahead of the Red Dragons’ return to the second tier of English football after a 43-year absence. They have already added the Wales goalkeeper Danny Ward, the left-back Liberato Cacace, the midfielders Lewis O’Brien and George Thomason and the forwards Josh Windass and Ryan Hardie to their ranks after a third consecutive promotion.
It has been reported that Wrexham, who begin their Championship campaign at Southampton on 9 August, have broken their transfer record twice this summer.
