Had Newcastle United not been involved in frantic deals on “PSR deadline day” last year, they would already have James Trafford in their ranks and the England goalkeeper would not have been setting EFL clean-sheet records this season.
As the official final financial day of the season – June 30 – approached and Newcastle needed to sell to comply with Premier League profit and sustainability rules (PSR), they found deals for Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh. Anderson’s deal to Nottingham Forest saw Odysseas Vlachodimos move in the opposite direction, and Eddie Howe now had a full complement of goalkeepers.
It meant no deal for Trafford, although he is still wanted at St James’ Park where they have tracked him through his time at Manchester City’s academy and during his progress through the England youth teams where he has been tipped to be an eventual No 1 for the seniors.
But staying at Burnley has meant one of the most remarkable campaigns for the goalkeeper who grew up on a farm in Greysouthen, near Cockermouth in Cumbria, and has become England’s most promising goalkeeper. Cardiff City’s goal on Tuesday night was the first conceded by Trafford in an astonishing 1,132 minutes. It has been a run that left opponents in tears with his gamesmanship and had NFL great JJ Watt promising to come out of retirement.
Before Yousef Salech’s header finally got past Trafford, Watford forward Kwadwo Baah was the last player to score against him when he found the net on December 12. The run of 12 clean sheets had Watt promising to return to gridiron three years after hanging up his cleats if he kept the run going until the end of the season.
It started as text banter with Trafford and Watt, who owns a stake in Burnley, and snowballed. Watt is due at Turf Moor soon and while his comeback has been scrapped, he has been one of the motivating factors for Scott Parker’s No 1.
Burnley have only conceded 10 goals in their 35 games and have drawn comparisons to the Premier League record of 15 conceded by Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea team in 2004/05. That was for a 38-game season, while Tony Pulis’ Gillingham side hold the record in a 46-game season when they let in just 20 goals in 1995/96.
Trafford has been at the heart of the stingiest defence in the EFL, with a stunning highlights reel that includes two penalty saves from Wilson Isidor in the last 10 minutes of a game to earn a point against Sunderland. Trafford cites Emi Martinez as one of his heroes and the Argentina goalkeeper would have been proud of how every trick in the book was used to put Isidor off – change of gloves, shoelaces, cramp, good old-fashioned time-wasting.
Anything to get into Isidor, and it worked. The French striker was in tears at the final whistle and had to be consoled by Burnley players as much as his own team-mates. “My hammy was crying,” Trafford said with a smile afterwards.
James Trafford keeps Wilson Isidor waiting to take his penalty... and it pays off!
The scores stay level thanks to Trafford's spot-kick save ???? pic.twitter.com/FdUxGjSFDj
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) January 17, 2025
His clean sheet record is well ahead of Leeds’ Illan Meslier – his closest rival – and the statistics show that he is also among the best at goal preventions. So Burnley’s record is down to him as much as his defenders stopping chances being created.
How have they done it? How has Parker put together a defence to gel immediately. Off the pitch, they have been playing “Traitors” – based on the BBC show – at the training ground. It has made them tight-knit and is the topic of conversation away from football. Trafford also has a close friend in CJ Egan-Riley, who he has known since they joined City aged 12.
Trafford grew up in his farming family and his favourite job was rounding sheep. He also tried his hand at lambing but got his chance to move to Manchester after getting spotted playing for Carlisle United’s Academy. He would stay in digs with a family, attend St Bede’s in Whalley Range and travel back up to Cumbria at the weekend.
“My family are the main part of why I am here as a professional footballer,” he said. “I moved away at 12 but still came home every week and mum had to drive me at ridiculous hours to Manchester or the train station.”
His father, James Sr, joked that the family name meant he was destined for Manchester United and, according to Carlisle’s News & Star at the time, they were interested in him along with Newcastle. The one that got away for both of those clubs, with United needing a dependable goalkeeper now and Newcastle looking to move for Trafford nine years later.
“He helps us get the sheep into the field – it’s one of his favourite jobs,” James Sr told News & Star at the time. “But I’ve never said that he must farm. You’ve got to let them go their own way.”
When City were winning the Treble, Trafford was out on loan at Bolton Wanderers, and he also had a spell at Accrington Stanley in the EFL. Even while down the leagues, he was highly rated at St George’s Park and thought of as a potential England No 1 by youth coaches.
“It wasn’t really too tough,” said Trafford on the decision to leave City. “I was on loan for two seasons so wasn’t in the building much, just to go over clips with my goalie coach. But it wasn’t too tough and they were fine with it.”
At Turf Moore, he followed in the footsteps of Nick Pope, Tom Heaton and Joe Hart as Burnley keepers in the England squad, with Gareth Southgate calling him up a year ago. He is on Thomas Tuchel’s radar, with the England manager looking for players who will be at their peak at the World Cup in 2026.
Trafford was a Chelsea fan as a boy so will be hoping to get the nod from the ex-Stamford Bridge boss. He actually started as an outfield player when he was young before becoming a goalkeeper.
“I had two older cousins, sister and I always got thrown in net because I was the youngest. As I’ve gone on, you saw with [Manuel] Neuer with the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, he was really good at being a sweeper keeper and being him,” said Trafford.
“And when Ederson came into Man City, he completely transformed the team from the season before with how he is on the ball and how he defends space. Even now with Martinez, he’s shown a massive personality in penalty shootouts and Mary Earps in the women’s game, she’s doing incredible.
“I feel like there’s a lot more people growing up wanting to be goalkeepers because these people that are in the spotlight, like Mary Earps, Ederson, Martinez, are really inspiring a lot of people to want to be a goalkeeper.”
There is a touch of Martinez about Trafford and his penalty antics – and it may not be long before he faces him again in the Premier League.
