Exclusive: Pep Guardiola makes James Trafford loan decision after surprising Gianluigi Donnarumma reveal
Pep Guardiola will not allow James Trafford to leave Manchester City on loan in January, sources have told Football Insider.
The 22-year-old has been reduced to a backup option at the Etihad, following City’s signing of Gianluigi Donnarumma from Paris Saint-Germain.
And even though his future at the Etihad is now uncertain, there is belief the young Englishman still has a part to play under Guardiola.
Man City unlikely to loan James Trafford
There was some debate about whether Trafford would be immediately made the number one goalkeeper after rejoining Man City, with the long-serving Ederson still at the club when he was signed.
However, Guardiola took a chance on the England international at the beginning of the season, starting him in each of the first three Premier League games.
Trafford immediately came in for heavy criticism though, making several high-profile errors.
The former Burnley man failed to impress during Man City’s defeats to Tottenham and Brighton, with Guardiola taking decisive action, replacing him with Donnarumma.
However, sources say that Man City are eager to keep Trafford in the building, rather than sanctioning a loan move when the window reopens.
Guardiola wants two top keepers in his squad that can push each other to improve, meaning that the young shot-stopper will be forced to stay and fight for his place.
Trafford is outperforming Gianluigi Donnarumma in surprising metric
While the optics around Trafford’s time at Man City don’t look good, when you dig deeper into the numbers, you find that he has surprisingly outperformed Donnarumma in a very key metric.
In terms of expected goals (xG) prevented in the Premier League, Trafford has bettered the Italian shot stopper.
While it is an admittedly small sample size, the Englishman has accumulated an xG prevented of 1.89 over his three appearances, with Donnarumma displaying a negative 0.01 xG prevented in his first trio of games.
| James Trafford | Goals Prevented | Gianluigi Donnarumma | Goals Prevented |
| Wolves (A) | 0.74 | Man United (H) | 0.14 |
| Tottenham (H) | 0.08 | Arsenal (A) | 0.24 |
| Brighton (A) | 1.07 | Burnley (H) | -0.39 |
| Overall | 1.89 | Overall | -0.01 |
Donnarumma was criticised for allowing Gabriel Martinelli to score a late equaliser in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Man City earlier this month, and his start to life in the Premier League may have caused slight concern for Guardiola.
Therefore, City are intent on keeping Trafford at the club for the rest of the season, to provide competition for the former PSG keeper and even replace him if the mistakes continue to come.
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