It has been suggested that Manchester City could make a move for a player they sold last year.
It seems unlikely that any of big names like Ilkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez, Aymeric Laporte or Cole Palmer will return to City anytime soon.
Gundogan and Palmer, for instance, will be hoping that Barcelona and Chelsea respectively enjoy much-improved campaigns.
On Wednesday, it was reported that Atletico Madrid are interested in signing Laporte — who is believed to be keen on a return to La Liga.
As for Mahrez, it seems unlikely that he will be interested in returning to the Etihad Stadium just a year after heading to Saudi Arabia to sign for Al-Ahli.
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Journalist drops interesting James Trafford to Man City hint
One player who Manchester City sold last year who has had a tough spell in his career ever since is James Trafford.
Alan Shearer claimed that the Burnley goalkeeper should have been dropped much earlier by Vincent Kompany in favour of Arijanet Muric last season.
The Englishman’s debut campaign as a Premier League goalkeeper was far from a smooth ride — despite coming off the back of heroic displays for England’s team that won the U-21 European Championship last year.
However, journalist Alex Crook has suggested that Manchester City could pursue a move for Trafford.
On talkSPORT’s Premier League All Access podcast, Crook said: “I think Stefan Ortega will be promoted to number one [if Ederson Moraes leaves], he did well when he came in at the end of last season] and I wondered then if City looked to bring in as a younger goalkeeper as number two.”
“They have a buyback option on James Trafford.”
“But James Trafford was going to Newcastle at one stage of the season, I’m told that deal is off now. So, at the moment, he’s staying at Burnley but I just wonder if City might consider activating that buyback option.”
When the 21-year-old — described as “terrific” by Kompany via BBC Sport — signed for Burnley, Fabrizio Romano claimed that Pep Guardiola’s men had a buyback clause in the deal — enabling them to sign him for triple the £19 million fee (£15 million plus £4 million in add-ons) they sold him for — £57 million.
Not worth signing James Trafford for such a high fee for Man City
It seems unlikely that Manchester City would be able to rationalise spending such a high fee to sign Trafford — especially as a backup goalkeeper in the event that Ederson left the club and Stefan Ortega became the number one.
If City were indeed interested enough in their former player to pay such a whopping sum, it could only be justified if their intention was to hand him the reins as their first-choice goalkeeper.
However, Alex Crook has reported that Ortega is set to become City’s number one if Ederson departs — making their potential interest in Trafford a puzzling thought.
Trafford has the potential to become a top goalkeeper one day but as things stand, he has plenty of room for improvement.
