Pep Guardiola has admitted that he has been very impressed with one member of his Manchester City squad in training ever since he lost his place in the starting XI.
Competition for places has increased this season at the Etihad Stadium after the Manchester club brought in seven new faces over the summer, with the arrival of Gianluigi Donnarumma on deadline day being the last addition.
The Italian has made an impressive start to life in Manchester, putting in three solid displays within the space of a week, which will make it hard for James Trafford to regain his spot as number one.
Guardiola has stated that the English goalkeeper has been training better than ever since the arrival of Donnarumma and that the 22-year-old will get another chance to impress at Man City.
James Trafford is training better than ever at Man City
Trafford is expected to start for Man City when they travel to Huddersfield to compete in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
Speaking to the press ahead of that contest, Guardiola confirmed that the Englishman is training better than ever since the arrival of Donnarumma.
“Yeah. He’s been unbelievable [since Gianluigi Donnarumma arrived],” the Man City boss said on Tuesday at his press conference.
“He is training better than ever, he is a fantastic keeper. And with me, all the keepers, the second keepers always play a lot of games. That will not be an exception.
“We are so safe, so confident, and he is so young, he will learn with Gigi and in the future, we will see what happens.”
The situation of the £27m goalkeeper is not what he imagined when putting pen to paper on his Man City contract, but Stuart Pearce thinks the experience will be good for Trafford, as he will get to challenge himself every day against one of the world’s best.
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Abdukodir Khusanov to miss three matches
Guardiola backed Abdukodir Khusanov to be a big success at Man City over the coming years during his press conference on Tuesday; however, he also confirmed the defender will miss the next three matches for the Manchester club.
“He will be out for the next three games, I think,” Guardiola said in his pre-match press conference.
Khusanov came off with 46 minutes on the clock against Arsenal at the weekend, and it appears the injury is more serious than City would have hoped for.
