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Manchester City have one foot in the Carabao Cup final after a 2-0 first leg win at Newcastle United but Pep Guardiola has been hit with an uncomfortable truth following it
Manchester City's players were keen not to celebrate too much following their 2-0 victory over Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup semi-finals but that late Rayan Cherki goal was huge for the Blues. Winning by a clear margin in the first leg has given City a great chance of progressing to Wembley after the return fixture.
Despite the locals' attempts to create an intimidating atmosphere which City could buckle under, the Blues produced a mature display to run out worthy winners at half time in the tie. While all of Pep Guardiola's men could be praised for their performances in the north east, James Trafford deserved special recognition.
The City academy graduate was handed a tough break this season after he made a triumphant return to the Etihad Stadium, believing he would be the club's No.1 this season. Unfortunately for Trafford, Gianluigi Donnarumma's availability proved too irresistable for the Blues and so the 23-year-old dropped down the pecking order.
Guardiola, to his credit, chose to start Trafford at St James' Park over his first choice Donnarumma and the former Burnley man did not let him down. His performance was much more than what you would expect from a second choice goalkeeper and therein lies the problem.
Trafford is only three years younger than Donnarumma so it is not like he can wait for the Italian to retire to get his chance as first choice. He is clearly good enough to be a starter in the Premier League so where does that leave him?
Mikel Arteta tried to push the idea at Arsenal of having two No.1s when they signed David Raya from Brentford while Aaron Ramsdale was the first choice. This did not last long and soon the experiment was abandoned.
Ramsdale joined Southampton in search of regular minutes and Raya has established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League. Guardiola has floated a similar theory with goalkeepers when quizzed about Trafford.
"The 'keeper is a special situation because the 'keeper plays, normally one, and the second one doesn't. All I can say is we are delighted with his behaviour in training," Guardiola said when asked about the Englishman back in October.
"One of the reasons why we want to go through in this competition [Carabao Cup] is because they all have to be ready in case we need in the Premier League and the Champions League." Just how long a player like Trafford can be content with just playing in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup is unclear.
The uncomfortable truth for Guardiola is that he will more-than-likely need to sell Trafford and commit to Donnarumma as his No.1. This is not the ideal scenario for City, particularly just a year after signing Trafford, but the 23-year-old is too good to be wasting away on the bench at the Etihad Stadium.
One of the only positives to come out of this would be that recruiting a second choice would be painless for the Blues. Promoting Stefan Ortega to No.2 would make sense with Marcus Bettinelli becoming the third 'keeper.
Nobody would have seen this coming last year but against Newcastle you can see Trafford having plenty of options next summer. For his career, moving away from City is for the best.
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