When Thomas Tuchel handed James Trafford the gloves against Spain at Wembley last month, the question that had been sitting quietly in the background of England's goalkeeping department suddenly had a voice. Tuchel said at the time that Jordan Pickford remained his number one. He has not changed that line. But he alternated the two keepers across four matches, and he has hinted he may do the same again when England face Croatia at Wembley on Thursday and then travel to Madrid to play Spain on Sunday.
The numbers still belong to Pickford
It is worth being clear about what Tuchel would be moving away from. Since his debut in a goalless draw with Germany at Wembley in 2017, Pickford has made 93 appearances, 80 of them competitive, with 33 at major tournaments. Opta has him down for two errors leading to goals in that entire run, alongside 46 clean sheets and a save ratio of 74 per cent. England reached World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and 2026 and two successive European Championship finals with him behind the defence.
Former England keeper Paul Robinson, who knows the particular loneliness of the position, told BBC Sport that he reads Tuchel's rotation as planning rather than a demotion. "We are so guilty as a nation of taking one goalkeeper to a tournament who has 70, 80, 90 caps, then the two or three below him could have less than double figures combined," Robinson said. He added that competitive and tournament minutes give a keeper something no amount of training-ground work can. "James Trafford is only 24 and has four caps, two of them competitive, so you can see exactly what Tuchel is doing."
Trafford needed Leeds, and Leeds needed him
Trafford's summer move from Manchester City to Leeds United was a British record for a goalkeeper and could rise to 45 million pounds. It followed a 23 million pound transfer to City from Burnley the year before, a move that stalled almost immediately when Pep Guardiola signed Gianluigi Donnarumma from Paris St-Germain. Across spells at Burnley, City and Leeds he has played only 42 Premier League games and one in the Champions League. Robinson called the Leeds switch a match made in heaven for both parties and pointed to the error Trafford made in the defeat at Bournemouth as the kind of thing that will not stick to him. "Because of his personality and his character traits, he has got the ability to go right to the top."
The queue behind them has thinned
Eighteen months ago Tuchel would have been choosing between Nick Pope, Sam Johnstone, Aaron Ramsdale, Dean Henderson, Trafford and Pickford. Pope is not playing at Newcastle. Johnstone is out of the conversation. Ramsdale, fourth choice at Southampton this season and failing to make matchday squads, has fallen furthest of all after leaving Arsenal in August 2024 and a loan at Newcastle that did not work. Henderson is fit again at Crystal Palace but was left out of this squad. Jason Steele is in the group as a senior presence rather than a contender.
Which leaves two names and one shirt. Robinson's verdict is that Trafford is challenging Pickford only in the conditional sense, if the Everton keeper starts dropping below his own standards, and that he is not doing that. Only David Raya has more Premier League clean sheets than Pickford since the start of 2024-25, 39 to 27, and Robinson's point is that Pickford has had to work considerably harder for his.
Context: Pickford, 32, has 93 England caps, 46 clean sheets and a 74 per cent save ratio. Trafford, 24, has four. England play Croatia at Wembley on Thursday before facing Spain in Madrid on Sunday in the Nations League.
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