Manchester City stopper vying to battle Ederson exciting improvement in League One loan pinpointed

Gethin Jones believes James Trafford's ability to play out from the back has improved this season for Bolton Wanderers in his loan from Manchester City.

The 20-year-old is at Wanderers for the season from City, where he is very highly rated. The prospect signed a new long-term deal with City over the summer which will keep him at the Etihad Stadium until mid-2027.

He joined Wanderers from City in the January transfer window initially, after a loan spell at Accrington Stanley came to an end. He proved to be a hit at Ian Evatt's side, as he became the club's number one goalkeeper in the the second half of the campaign in place of Joel Dixon.

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He returned to the Whites for the full 2022/23 campaign on loan from Pep Guardiola's side. Trafford has continued from where he left off the previous campaign, being Bolton's first choice stopper once again.

Defender Jones has played with Trafford at Bolton both last and this season so far. Work has taken place recently with Trafford to ensure his ability of playing out from the back improves and begins to measure up to his shot stopping capabilities.

City are keeping a close eye on Trafford's progress, having the youngster back training with them on Bolton's day off in the week. It is all part of his development and Jones has spoken in glowing terms of how he feels the goalkeeper is progressing.

Jones told the Manchester Evening News: “Listen, Traff’s got a lot of ability and he can go as far as he wants. The way he’s developing now, his playing out is getting a lot better. We’ve worked on a few things the last two weeks on how we can get him involved a bit more to help us play