James Trafford has described his final season at Manchester City as “horrendous” from a playing point of view, saying he had to leave for Leeds United in the summer for the sake of his mental wellbeing.
The 24-year-old goalkeeper spoke to the BBC’s Football Daily, and his words landed on the same day he kept a clean sheet in Leeds’ 1-0 win over Tottenham at Elland Road, diving to keep out a stoppage-time header from Jan Paul van Hecke.
A few hours later, Manchester City lost 3-1 at Nottingham Forest, their third league defeat in a row.
Why did James Trafford leave Man City?
Simply, he was not playing. City brought the academy graduate back in July 2025, two years after he had left for Burnley in the Championship. Less than six weeks later, Gianluigi Donnarumma arrived from Paris St-Germain, having just helped the French club win the Champions League, and went straight in as first choice.
Trafford started the first three games of that season. In the 35 Premier League matches after Donnarumma arrived, he made only one more league start.
“What a horrendous, horrendous feeling. Not playing,” Trafford said. “You are ringing a lot of people and just venting. Like most people, you have a [bad] day at work and you ring someone up. I ring my dad, I ring my mum, I ring my missus, I ring my mates.”
‘You just lose yourself not playing’
The move to Leeds was about more than his career, he explained.
“I had to play regularly this season for my own mental wellbeing. You just lose yourself not playing,” he said. “Maybe I’m different, I don’t know, but the feeling of not playing every week, it felt horrendous. I just had to play every week this season for that mental feel-good and to keep progressing with my career and edging me closer to achieving the dreams I want to achieve.”
It is an honest look at the other side of a goalkeeping squad. Clubs like City need two top keepers, and the one on the bench rarely gets to say how it feels.
Two trophies and no regrets
Trafford does not look back on the season as a waste. He started both the League Cup and FA Cup finals at Wembley, and City won the two of them.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t win all four trophies. It didn’t go how I expected it to go, but it happens,” he said. “Looking back, I don’t think it was a disappointing season in the end because I learned so much, I improved so much and I won two trophies in one year.”
He admitted there were low moments too. “There were moments when I was very down, regretting things and feeling disappointed, but looking back, I’m very thankful for the experience. What an incredible year.”
Can Trafford become England’s number one?
That is the target. Trafford went to the 2026 World Cup with Thomas Tuchel’s England squad without getting on the pitch, and he wants to be the starter next time.
“It’s my aim and it’s something I’ve always dreamed of,” he said. “I always believe that one day I could be. Every day I try to keep improving to put myself in the best position to be England’s number one one day.”
Regular football at Leeds gives him the platform. Saturday’s win, sealed by substitute Noah Okafor’s 79th-minute goal, was their first in six games and lifted them to eighth, above Spurs.
What it says about Man City’s goalkeeper debate
Donnarumma has been under the microscope after a run of mistakes this autumn, and Enzo Maresca has stood by his No.1, telling everyone that for now it is “Gigio plus 10”. Trafford’s story is a reminder of how firmly that door was shut last season.
City chose Donnarumma over a homegrown keeper who had just come back, and Trafford chose minutes over medals. On the evidence of his clean sheet at Elland Road while City were shipping three at the City Ground, both sides of that call will keep getting looked at, every time the Italian has a bad day.
