Maresca's ball-playing goalkeeper demand could revive Trafford's Man City career

James Trafford arrived at Manchester City last summer expecting to be first choice, only to be displaced by Gianluigi Donnarumma before the season had properly begun. Now, with Pep Guardiola gone and Enzo Maresca taking charge at the Etihad, the 23-year-old England goalkeeper may find the tactical winds shifting in his favour.

When City beat Newcastle to Trafford’s signature, the plan appeared straightforward: Ederson was heading for the exit, Stefan Ortega was pencilled in as backup, and Trafford would step into the number-one role. Donnarumma’s late arrival from PSG upended that script entirely. The Italian quickly became Guardiola’s preferred option — not because of his distribution, which had actually cost him his place at PSG under Luis Enrique, but because of his shot-stopping ability at a moment when City needed results.

Trafford was confined largely to domestic cup appearances, where he demonstrated he is comfortably above backup level. Under Guardiola, that counted for little. The Catalan’s final season represented a notable departure from his long-held conviction that goalkeepers must be capable ball-players — a philosophy that had seen him loan Joe Hart to Torino in his very first summer in Manchester and replace him with Claudio Bravo.

Maresca, however, appears to hold that original Guardiola conviction more firmly than Guardiola himself did in his closing chapter at City. During his debut season at Chelsea, Maresca repeatedly instructed Robert Sanchez to play short and build from the back, even when the Spanish goalkeeper looked visibly uncomfortable doing so. “I am the guy who asks Robert to do that,” Maresca said in October 2024. “And Robert is going to do that.”

That uncompromising stance on goalkeeper distribution is precisely where Trafford holds an advantage over Donnarumma. If Maresca applies the same demands at City that he did at Stamford Bridge, the Italian international — widely regarded as one of the finest shot-stoppers in the world but not a natural ball-player — could find himself under pressure for the first time since his summer arrival.

Trafford is currently with England at the World Cup, which underlines his standing in the game despite a frustrating club campaign. His immediate future at the Etihad remains unresolved, but Maresca’s appointment has at least reopened a door that looked firmly closed under his predecessor.