Journalist confirms Newcastle United maintain interest in 22-year-old England international

If there was one position you'd say that Newcastle United don't need any more players for right now you'd probably say goalkeeper.

In terms of bodies, at least, you'd be absolutely right. The Magpies currently have five first-team 'keepers on the books, but it seems that Eddie Howe only really likes one of them.

Nick Pope is always going to start for Newcastle as long as he's fit, but we've seen some variation when it comes to who appears on the bench.

Martin Dubravka is still considered as Newcastle's number two, but as we saw last season when he filled in for the injured Pope, he's far from the level of the England international.

Newcastle fumbled the bag when it came to signing a new 'keeper this summer

A new goalkeeper looked like a big priority for Eddie Howe in the summer with links to Giorgi Mamardashvili, Filip Jorgensen and James Trafford regularly doing the rounds.

Instead of signing one of any of those three, Newcastle ended up with John Ruddy on a free and Odyseas Vlachodimos for £20 chuffing million. Paying that much for a Greek international only for Eddie Howe to have him rot shows just how much PSR is ruining the game as the only reason we signed him was a tit-for-tat deal with Nottingham Forest which saw them scoop up Elliot Anderson from us.

Even after signing those two goalkeepers, Newcastle kept toying with the idea of going back in for Burnley's young England international, James Trafford, but ultimately decided not to.

Newcastle may go for James Trafford in January

However, Chris Waugh believes Trafford is still in the club's thoughts despite Newcastle having an abundance of goalkeepers.

He said in his weekly Q&A for The Athletic that Newcastle want a good number two to backup Nick Pope, preferably one much younger who can take over the mantle from Pope, but one with enough about him that he could step in at any time.

James Trafford fits that bill at just 22 years old, but having also been selected at senior International level, albeit still uncapped. While it may not be a January swoop, there's a good chance that Newcastle do try again to land Trafford at some point.