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James Trafford on tough Manchester City return and what having fun at Leeds United means for him James Trafford wants to have fun at Leeds United – which for him just means playing football. People will talk about the pressure which comes with being his new club's £45m record signing, or the most expensive goalkeeper in the history of British football, but Trafford is in a good place whenever he is on the field. That did not happen enough for him in 2025-26. When the Cumbrian moved back to Manchester City last summer, the expectation was that it was to become their new No 1 goalkeeper. Instead, Gianluigi Donnarumma arrived on transfer deadline day, and from then until the final weekend of the season, Trafford did not play in either the Premier League or Champions League again. He was the regular goalkeeper as City won the FA and League Cups, but his league inactivity denied him the chance to push Jordan Pickford at international level. Although he went to the World Cup, he did not play a minute. All that should have changed now, with Trafford at the head of a goalkeeping department which has already seen Karl Darlow (Manchester United) and Illan Meslier (Arsenal) leave, and which is also likely to lose Lucas Perri on loan to Torino. “I find playing football really fun,” the 23-year-old tells The Yorkshire Post with refreshing simplicity. “If you're not playing, it's not as fun as when you are playing. “Wherever I've been playing in my career, I've always had a lot of fun. When I was playing at City, it was a lot of fun. But whenever I've said I want to have fun, it's always I want to play and have fun whilst playing.” So at times last season cannot have been much fun for him. “It's a very long season at City, because there's so many games, so much travelling,” says Trafford, who came through the club's academy before two seasons at Burnley, the first on loan. “Some days were really tough and some days were really good. It's just about balancing the emotions and learning from it because it was a totally new experience for me. “The first half of the season was a lot harder because the games weren't so frequent that I was playing. From January to the end of the season we had a lot of big games. We played Newcastle a lot, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea (in the cups). “To win two trophies was a brilliant end to a very tough season. It rewarded me for never giving up. “So, yes, it was a season I look back on as a positive season, I won two trophies and I learned a lot.” This one has the potential to be good too, joining what feels like an upwardly mobile club who broke the spell (along with Sunderland) of clubs yo-yoing between the Championship and Premier League. “I'm just excited to play football, work really hard and have fun and try our hardest as a group to achieve things,” says Trafford. “There are a lot of really good lads (at Leeds). It's a group that you can tell are together and are willing to work hard for each other.” Certainly for the neutrals, Trafford's style of play is fun too, a sweeper-keeper, who likes to play high up and feel the ball on his boots. “I always try and play high and if the ball's mine to get, then I try my hardest to get the ball,” he explains. “If the ball goes over and they (the opposition) run, I could get it instead of their striker. “It's just the way of football nowadays. If the team plays high, the goalie plays high, to be honest.” Leeds play their final pre-season friendly at home to Augsburg on Saturday, kicking off at 3pm.