Newcastle have renewed attempts to sign the Burnley and England Under-21 goalkeeper James Trafford.
Eddie Howe has long admired the 21-year-old, who is regarded as a future senior England keeper, and Newcastle had a £15m bid rejected in June. They have returned to the negotiating table, with a potential loan deal featuring an obligation to buy believed to be under discussion.
Although Trafford would initially understudy Nick Pope at St James’ Park, the Manchester City academy graduate from Cockermouth in Cumbria would swiftly be expected to compete with Howe’s first choice. After Burnley’s 1-0 Championship defeat at Sunderland on Saturday, Scott Parker suggested he could soon lose his goalkeeper.
“At the moment James is here,” said Burnley’s manager. “Who knows what happens in the future.”
The mooted transfer is complicated by Howe having five goalkeepers. Any deal for Trafford would almost certainly involve Pope’s current deputy, Slovakia’s Martin Dubravka, leaving before Friday’s transfer deadline and Odysseas Vlachodimos departing on loan.
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The latter, Greece’s first choice, joined Newcastle in June from Nottingham Forest as part of the £30m deal that took Elliot Anderson to the City Ground but has not yet featured in a Premier League matchday squad. Newcastle also have the veteran John Ruddy, signed from Birmingham earlier in the summer, and the long-serving Mark Gillespie on their books.