Newcastle United afforded glimmer of hope in pursuit of James Trafford as Manchester City weigh up activating buy-back clause
James Trafford really should have been a Newcastle United player by now after everything was teed up for the Magpies to make an early move in the transfer window.
Newcastle wanted Trafford, Trafford wanted Newcastle. Burnley were aware, and despite having doubled their asking price, Newcastle should have been ready to negotiate, but as is the theme of this, and several transfer windows before it, the club opted to drag their heels.
Now Newcastle find themselves in a situation that could see them miss out on James Trafford as Manchester City will activate their buy-back clause for the 22-year-old should either Ederson or Stefan Ortega move clubs.
Should Newcastle get their act together and cough up enough money for Burnley to accept an offer, Manchester City have three days to decide whether or not to match it, and reports are suggesting that Trafford could opt for a return to City over a move to Newcastle. Procrastination is coming back to bite us hard this summer.
Burnley have Newcastle and Man City goalkeepers in mind as a replacement for James Trafford
As things stand, Sky Sports is claiming that despite reports from elsewhere, there have been no bids for Man City's Ederson, and the 31-year-old is happy to stay, and the club is happy for him to. That could still change, but that's positive for Newcastle.
Meanwhile, they go on to say that Burnley could turn to either Stefan Ortega or Martin Dubravka to replace Trafford, which adds an extra layer of complexity to the deal.
Newcastle could offer Dubravka as part of the deal, but then Man City could also offer Ortega to match it, and once again, it comes down to Trafford himself.
Newcastle's goalkeeper situation is still a shambles
Offering Dubravka as a sweetener would make perfect sense as the Slovakian is expected to leave Newcastle if they do sign James Trafford; this would just make the whole process a lot smoother.
Newcastle still have five goalkeepers on the books, adding another would be even more ridiculous than the situation already is, but Eddie Howe doesn't want to lose Nick Pope, he can't sell Odysseas Vlachodimos without butchering the PSR headroom, and he just offered Mark Gillespie and John Ruddy new contracts, so that leaves Dubz as the one to make way.
The situation as it stands is as clear as mud and is about as emblematic of our summer as it gets.
