{"id":11719,"date":"2026-11-07T10:45:53","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T10:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/07\/trafford-breaks-silence-on-manchester-city-frustrations-leeds-move\/"},"modified":"2026-11-07T10:45:53","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T10:45:53","slug":"trafford-breaks-silence-on-manchester-city-frustrations-leeds-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/07\/trafford-breaks-silence-on-manchester-city-frustrations-leeds-move\/","title":{"rendered":"Trafford Breaks Silence On Manchester City Frustrations, Leeds Move"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Leeds United goalkeeper James Trafford has opened up about the emotional toll of his short-lived return to Manchester City, describing the mental frustration of losing his starting spot under Pep Guardiola.<\/p>\n<p>Trafford rejoined City from Burnley in a \u00a327 million deal after a standout campaign and started the club\u2019s opening three Premier League fixtures. However, his dream move quickly unravelled on transfer deadline day when City signed PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, relegating Trafford primarily to domestic cup appearances.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read Also:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.completesports.com\/2026-u-17-wwc-japan-ready-to-make-history-against-flamingos-yotsumoto\/\">2026 U-17 WWC: Japan Ready to Make History Against Flamingos \u2013 Yotsumoto<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The England international eventually departed Etihad Stadium to join Leeds United in a package worth up to \u00a345 million. While he collected silverware during his time in Manchester, Trafford admitted he left feeling unwanted and unfulfilled.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\">BBC,<\/a> the 24-year-old revealed the heavy mental strain of sitting on the bench.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat a horrendous, horrendous feeling\u2014not playing,\u201d Trafford said. \u201cYou are ringing a lot of people and just venting. Like most people when they have a bad day at work, you ring someone up. I ring my dad, my mum, my missus, and my mates.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"csa1x-widget csbw-odds-card\" aria-label=\"Match odds\">\n<p><label class=\"csbw-oddschip\"><span class=\"csbw-oddsbar__label\">Show odds<\/span><button class=\"csbw-oddsswitch\" type=\"button\" role=\"switch\" aria-checked=\"false\" aria-label=\"Show odds\" data-csbw-global=\"1\"><i aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/button><\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"csa1x-actions\">\n<details class=\"csa1x-tipster-details csbw-article-tips\">\n<summary class=\"csa1x-tipster-toggle\">Match prediction<\/summary>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Emphasizing the psychological necessity of consistent match action, Trafford explained why securing a move away was vital for his career progression.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read Also:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.completesports.com\/u-23-eagles-beat-third-division-side-grassrunners-3-1-in-final-warm-up-game-ahead-of-dr-congo-tie\/\">U-23 Eagles Beat Third Division Club Grassrunners 3-1 In Final Warm-up Game Ahead Of DR Congo Tie<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had to play regularly this season for my own mental wellbeing,\u201d he added. \u201cYou just lose yourself not playing. Maybe I\u2019m different, I don\u2019t know, but the feeling of not playing every week felt horrendous. I needed that mental feel-good to keep progressing and edging closer to my dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the difficult spell, Trafford maintains a mature perspective on his period under Guardiola.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were moments when I was very down, regretting things and feeling disappointed, but looking back, I\u2019m very thankful for the experience,\u201d Trafford concluded. \u201cWhat an incredible year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Source: <\/p>\n<div class=\"nSourse\">Complete Sports<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leeds United goalkeeper James Trafford has opened up about the emotional toll of his short-lived return to Manchester City, describing the mental frustration of losing his starting spot under Pep&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}