Leeds United have signed the goalkeeper James Trafford from Manchester City on a five-year contract, in a deal that could be worth up to £45m.
The move is a club-record fee for Leeds, beating the £35.5m they paid Hoffenheim for Georginio Rutter in January 2023, and a new benchmark for a British goalkeeper, above the £30m Everton paid Sunderland for Jordan Pickford in 2017. The fee is an initial £40m plus add-ons, and City have also negotiated a 20% sell-on clause and matching rights.
Trafford's exit comes a year after he rejoined City from Burnley in a £27m deal, only to lose his place to Gianluigi Donnarumma, signed from Paris Saint-Germain last September. He made 17 appearances for City last season, four of them in the Premier League, but won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup as Pep Guardiola closed out his ten-year reign at the club with the two trophies. He was named in England's World Cup squad this summer alongside Jordan Pickford and Dean Henderson, though he did not play.
At Leeds, the 23-year-old arrives as the club's new senior goalkeeper, brought in to solve a problem position after Karl Darlow and Illan Meslier both left Elland Road this summer. Lucas Perri, who lost his place to Darlow in the second half of last season, is expected to join Torino on loan. Trafford made his name at Burnley, helping the club to promotion from the Championship in 2024-25 before City exercised a buy-back option to bring him back to the Etihad.