TRAFFORD KEEN TO SUCCEED WITH THE CLARETS

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Shot-stopper ready for Clarets chapter

2023-07-21T09:30:00.000Z

TRAFFORD KEEN TO SUCCEED WITH THE CLARETS

Shot-stopper ready for Clarets chapter

2023-07-21T09:30:00.000Z

Shot-stopper ready for Clarets chapter

New signing James Trafford is eager to improve & achieve success and believes he’s in the right environment at Turf Moor after penning a five-year deal with the Club.

Trafford joined the Clarets from Manchester City for an undisclosed fee on Thursday after spending the last 18 months on loan at Sky Bet League One side Bolton Wanderers where he made 74 appearances including winning the EFL Football League Trophy last season at Wembley.

That wasn’t the only trophy that the 20-year-old goalkeeper lifted this year, after helping England’s U21s side win the UEFA European Championships this summer. Trafford started all six of the Three Lions’ matches, not conceding a single goal in the process and making a stoppage time penalty save against Spain in the final.

Now a Claret, Trafford is hoping to continue his successful pathway and achieve with Burnley in the Premier League as well as improving himself along the way.

The Cumbrian said: “I feel very happy to officially be a Burnley player, I was excited for it to all get done whilst the Euros was going on, I knew a lot about it, and I was waiting to get back to make it all official really.

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“I want to improve and learn as much as I can here and as a team, I just want to take it a day at a time and try and achieve as much as we can going forward.

“I think everything about it, the way they play, the manager, the goalie coach and the way they want to play, I think it’s a club on the up and they can help me develop massively.

“I spoke to both of them [Vincent and Jelle] quite a bit throughout the Euros and the manager just told me how they work, how he sees me panning out and I also talked to Jelle quite a lot and we had a good laugh.”

Trafford played alongside last season’s loanee Taylor Harwood-Bellis whilst on the rise through the City academy ranks and with the Three Lions as a teenager.

Whilst away this summer in Georgia for the U21 EURO’s, Trafford admits he discussed the imminent move to Turf Moor with THB.

“I spoke to Taylor [Harwood-Bellis] quite a lot to be fair about Burnley and I asked him a lot of questions because he lived it last year and he had a lot of good experiences.

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“He was quite honest, and he spoke really highly of the Club, he couldn’t have spoken any better about it.

“It was quite good to hear from someone that I know and trust in Taylor.” Said Trafford.

Burnley have seen a number of goalkeepers represent England over the last few seasons and Trafford is hoping he can follow a similar pathway.

“They’ve done well, especially with goalkeepers, they’ve had Pope, Heaton and Hart so they’ve had quite of lot of internationals that have played.

“It’s a good platform to play well and if you play well, you hopefully get called-up to the senior squad and that’s what I hope to do.”

Trafford signed a long-term deal with the Club on Thursday and the shot-stopper wanted his family to be at the Gawthorpe Training Ground for the special occasion

“They’ve been the main part of why I’m here today and a professional footballer.

“I moved away from home at 12 but I still came home every week and my mum had to drive me a ridiculous number of hours down to Manchester or to the train station, so they are a massive part of why I’m here today.”