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James Trafford is back at Manchester City and he returns far closer to his goal after some excellent performances for Bolton and Burnley
On or off the pitch, James Trafford has never been shy about coming forward.
He realised early on in Manchester City's academy that he was going to have to try to get as good with his feet as Ederson if he was going to become City's No.1, and that was a goal he was quite happy to tell the media about at the very beginning of his career.
It shouldn't be remotely controversial, yet it is also a level of confidence that is rarely seen publicly from young players looking to make it in the game. Goalkeepers are characters at the best of times though, and a no-nonsense Cumbrian who had grown up on a farm and knew the similarly forthright Dean Henderson saw no harm in telling anybody what he wanted and expected to achieve.
It wasn't that he had nothing to back it up when he was talking at the beginning of his career, because even at 18 it was obvious he had an analytical approach to goalkeeping as much as he relished being alone with baying fans behind his goal. In an early interview with the Manchester Evening News, he spoke about the changes to goalkeeping generally over recent years and what specific tweaks he had made to his game to keep up with that.
But as he returns to the club five years later, there is so much practice as well as theory that Trafford can point to for his credentials of being City's next No.1.
It will surely happen sooner rather than later, but now it is so much closer Trafford was much more reined in as he spoke of his place in the goalkeeping set-up at City. The cheeky boy who asked Guardiola if he could start the next game if he saved a penalty in training many years ago is still there, but four years of developing in often punishing environments in English football have also seen him grow up.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday night after playing the first half against Palermo, there was respect for Newcastle for their longstanding interest in him, respect for current No.1 Ederson, and recognition that he cannot afford to stop working if he wants to complete his goal.
It would be 'brilliant', he said, if he was able to become No.1 for City and England for a decade, and the club would agree. Having effectively only paid £13m to re-sign him from Burnley (£28m minus the £15m they sold him for) that would be a whopping bargain if it turns out to have settled City's goalkeeping position for the next 10 years.
City are welcoming back a more mature and experienced player despite Trafford still being young at 22. Having now put in so much work to get back, the ultimate goal for the player is coming clearly into sight and that is not something that will be taken lightly.
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