James Trafford is a realist.
He knew as he was coming through the Manchester City academy that if he was ever going to play for the first team he had to be as good as Ederson with his feet if not better. It's why he put extra effort into training up that part of his game as well as lasering in on how to improve his hands.
That also means that little fazes the Cumbrian-born goalkeeper raised in the same part of the world that produced Scott Carson, Dean Henderson, and Curtis Anderson. Training with Pep Guardiola and the stars of the first team was seen as natural progression - "You see them more as teammates rather than really famous big names, they're just normal men at the end of the day," Trafford told the Manchester Evening News as he came through - in the same way that he grasped the opportunity to be England Under-21 stopper in March.
Trafford now has four clean sheets to his name ahead of the semi-finals of the Euros, and is closing in on becoming Burnley's record signing. The Premier League newcomers have agreed to pay City an initial £15m in a move that could rise to £19m for the 20-year-old.
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It is a deserved move for a player who believes he is ready for the top flight but could accept he faced too much competition at the Etihad - and not a bad one for someone who did not start off wanting to be a goalkeeper growing up - and a reward for his ambition in wanting first team football. The same desire that saw him miss the club's only Youth Cup final victory since 2008 for a chance to be part of a senior matchday squad meant Trafford has spent the last 18 months with Bolton in League One playing competitive football.
If the move is a huge success for Trafford, it is also another significant landmark for the City academy. The aim has always been to produce first-team players for the game even if not for Guardiola's squad, and the past few years have seen a surge in sales for academy graduates.
Southampton spent £12m last year to buy Gavin Bazunu based on his performances for League One side Plymouth and the Republic of Ireland, and Burnley buying Trafford for £15m from the same league opens a new avenue for the academy. Where previously another loan the following year would have been the norm - likely to the Championship, such as Callum Doyle going from Sunderland to Coventry - Bazunu showed that players could get a good Premier League move straight from the third division and Trafford has shown that Bazunu was not a one-off.
Trafford will continue to set his ambitions high, and thanks in part to him so too can every youngster trying to make it in the City academy.
