Newcastle United have Premier League goalkeeper in their sights ahead of summer transfer window with James Trafford also in consideration
Newcastle United are very aware that they need to find a solution to their goalkeeper conundrum soon after failing to land James Trafford in each of the last two summer windows.
The young England goalkeeper was Newcastle's priority option to challenge Nick Pope for the No 1 spot, but they didn't have the funds to complete the deal two years ago, and in last summer's window, Trafford opted to return to Manchester City over joining Newcastle.
We'd have expected that there'd be no third attempt from the Geordies to get this deal done, but Trafford now seems unhappy at the Etihad Stadium, which may have opened the door for another shot.
Indeed, a report in the iPaper suggests Newcastle are tenetively looking at another move for James Trafford in the summer.
Newcastle have Brighton's Bart Verbruggen in their sights
Newcastle brought in Aaron Ramsdale on loan in the summer, paying Southampton a hefty £4 million fee for the pleasure, but the former Arsenal stopper hasn't caused too much of a worry to Nick Pope's place as No 1 choice, having only kept one clean sheet in 15 appearances.
Pope himself is 33, and even though Eddie Howe still has plenty of faith in him, the fanbase isn't as convinced, but regardless, he's not exactly a long-term solution to the problem.
With that in mind, it's expected that Newcastle will make an attempt to sign a permanent keeper in the summer and have Brighton's Bart Verbruggen high on their list, who is also being tracked by Chelsea and Bayern Munich.
Newcastle should just swallow their pride and try to sign James Trafford again
We talked a lot about Newcastle's bizarre goalkeeper situation two years ago when we signed £20 million waste of money Odysseas Vlachodimos and brought in John Ruddy, and things haven't got any less messy since then.
It's unlikely that Aaron Ramsdale will make his switch permanent this summer, while we still need to find a permanent solution to Vlachodimos, who is on loan at Sevilla and doing well, but the Spanish club can't afford to make the move a permanent one.
Bart Vergbruggen would be a good option to have, but honestly, despite all the chew we've had with him in the past, we still think James Trafford would be the perfect signing.
