Man City accept £19m offer from Burnley for goalkeeper James Trafford

Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford looks set to sign for Vincent Kompany’s Burnley after an offer worth up to £19m was accepted by the Blues

Manchester City have accepted an offer from Burnley worth up to £19million for young goalkeeper James Trafford.

Trafford was loaned out to Accrington Stanley in the first half of the 2021/22 season before switching to Bolton Wanderers for the second half of the campaign.

The 20-year-old enjoyed his time in Lancashire and moved back to Wanderers in the summer of 2022, spending the entire season on loan at the University of Bolton Stadium.

With Ederson still Pep Guardiola’s undisputed first-choice goalkeeper and Stefan Ortega doing a fine job when called upon, Trafford was always going to find it tough to break into the City first team, and so a move to pastures new is on the horizon.

City have accepted an initial figure of £15m from Burnley with a further £4m in add-ons. There will also be a 20 per cent sell-on clause in the deal and a buy-back option. Trafford is now waiting to complete a medical but talks between himself and Burnley are at an advanced stage.

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City have already enjoyed a busier transfer window than was expected this summer. Club captain Ilkay Gundogan has called time on his seven-year stay in Manchester having signed for Barcelona, while Mateo Kovacic has been brought in to replace the German midfielder.

Trafford could join Gundogan in heading for the Etihad exit door, and he’s unlikely to be the last on his way out of the club this summer. Aymeric Laporte and Joao Cancelo have both been linked with an exit, while Kyle Walker’s future is also said to be up in the air.

Duff signs ex-Claret Ginnelly

New Swansea manager Michael Duff has today completed the signing of Josh Ginnelly from Scottish Premiership club Hearts.

Signed as a 16-year-old from Shrewsbury in the summer of 2015, his only first team appearances came in pre-season friendlies during his three years at Burnley, which included a last minute winner at Bolton in 2016, but he gained experience in loans with Altrincham, Walsall, Lincoln and Tranmere before making a permanent move to Walsall in 2018 to add to three league appearances he’d made for Shrewsbury.

He was at Walsall for just half a season before moving on to Preston from where he went to Bristol Rovers and then Hearts on loan. He won himself a permanent deal at Hearts for whom he’s done well in his three years since, scoring seventeen goals in 61 league appearances.

Ginnelly has now joined Swansea on a free transfer at the end of his Hearts contract and he said after putting pen to paper on a three-year deal: “Every player wants to score and assist, and I am no different, but I think seeing the ball go in the back of the net for your team to win a game is what everybody wants.

“When you are at this level it is a team game, it is all about trying to get to the next level, and we know what the next level is. For me, it is team first. If I can get my goals and whatever, then great, but it is about the team first.”

He added about his new manage: “I know the gaffer as a player, and the one thing I think everyone would say about him is that he is a winner. If you go and look at his career, he has won things. He is completely about the team, it’s not about individuals, and I knew I would get that vibe from him because I knew him as a player.

“I had a few exchanges but that was when I was a little boy and he was a senior professional coming towards the end of his career. I was on the end of a few tellings off, but he is a great guy, and I am looking forward to working with him.”