Rangers keen on signing Manchester City sensation James Trafford
Rangers are tracking Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford ahead of the January transfer window, according to the Daily Mail.
Trafford, 20, is currently on loan at League One side Bolton Wanderers after spending the 2021/22 season at Accrington Stanley.
The Mail report (30 December) that Trafford’s performances have caught the eye of the Gers ahead of next month’s transfer window as Michael Beale eyes a younger replacement for Allan McGregor, who is twice Trafford’s age.
Promising
Trafford would be a promising signing should he make the move north of the border. He’s still in the early stages of his career, but he has plenty of EFL experience and has been an important part of Bolton’s team in the 2022/23 season.
The England Under-21 international has done well at Bolton this season. Manager Ian Evatt was quoted by The Bolton News in August as calling Trafford “the complete package” as a goalkeeper.
He’s clearly highly rated and is part of an extremely impressive group of young goalkeepers who are currently on City’s books. A loan deal would probably be the most likely route for the Gers to go down, and furthermore, it will be interesting to see if City allow the youngster to cancel his loan at the Trotters to make the move to Ibrox.
City have previously allowed some of their younger players to leave The Etihad permanently, but also include buy-back clauses in their contracts. This could well be an option Rangers go down when it comes to Trafford to give them the best chance of landing the young keeper.
A keeper will be high on the transfer wish list for Beale with McGregor almost certainly playing in his last season and Jon McLaughlin also ending the latter stages of his career.
In other Rangers news, a £5million twist has emerged in Southampton’s bid to sign Ryan Kent.