City Watch: Blues reshuffle in summer signings

Just over two weeks remain until the Premier League season kicks off again, and honestly, I cannot wait to see the Blues back in action. Those of you who are eagle eyed on City’s social media pages will have noticed that the players returned to training this week following their trimmed break after their exit in the Club World Cup.

Seeing the players back at the training ground, preparing themselves for another season has got me excited. At this point, I’ve become used to talking about the Community Shield as the team’s first game back, however, it’s the first time in five years that the Blues won’t compete in the season’s curtain raiser at Wembley, after failing to retain the Premier League and losing the FA Cup Final.

So, with that in mind, we’ll have to wait another week for City to begin their campaign, which will be against Wolves at Molineux. I’m hoping there’s going to be a lot more transfer news between now and then, but it’s all seems to have gone a little quiet after the rapid start to signing at the beginning of the summer.

That was until this week, however, when the Blues broke their transfer silence and made their fifth signing of the summer. A familiar face returns to the Etihad after making his move to Burnley two years ago, this being goalkeeper, James Trafford. The 23 year old has re-joined for a reported £27 million fee.

City sold the 22 year old to the Clarets in 2023, with game time in Manchester looking unlikely. However, the re-signing of another example of what our academy can produce indicates that one of our two goalkeepers, Ederson and Stefan Ortega will be leaving the club.

Ederson has been linked with a potential move away, Galatasaray being a likely destination for the Brazilian, but there’s no concrete news as of yet, so one has to wonder which, if either, does end up departing.

Trafford was part of the under 21 2023 European Championship team for England, a squad that went on to win the competition, with James not conceding a single goal in the six games he was involved, a first for the tournament’s history. He was also an integral part of Vincent Kompany’s team that got Burnley promoted back to the Premier League in 2024.

Whether he will come in as a regular starter is yet to become clear, but he clearly matches Pep Guardiola’s playing style, with key skills such as distribution being one of his main attributes.

Time will only tell whether he starts week in week out, but this to me is a smart signing, hopefully the Blues make a few more before the season starts again!