You have to go back 10 years to find a major tournament where Jordan Pickford was not starting in goal for England.
The Everton goalkeeper has pretty much been England’s number one since making his debut in 2017 – until now.
Saturday’s 3-2 Nations League loss to Spain saw Leeds’ James Trafford make his competitive debut for the Three Lions as manager Thomas Tuchel signalled the battle to be number one is on.
Pickford became England’s highest appearance maker at World Cups, overtaking Peter Shilton when he started in England’s 2026 quarter-final win over Norway.
During Gareth Southgate’s tenure there was not a natural goalkeeper to rival Pickford, and that looked to continue under Tuchel as Pickford started all but one of England’s World Cup qualifiers and then every game in the summer.
But it looks as though Pickford has finally got a rival in Trafford, with Tuchel saying that the pair get “two consecutive matches each” during this international break.
Trafford has impressed since making his move to Leeds for a deal worth up to £45m.
Against Spain, the 23-year-old showed his quality with the ball at his feet and made an impressive save to deny Ferran Torres in the first half.
But he was beaten three times as England lost their Nations League opener to the world champions.
“I think he deserved to get the two matches, that’s why we gave him two matches,” Tuchel said.
“He started the Premier League season well and gets minutes as number one at Leeds.
“Jordan [Pickford] did absolutely nothing wrong but we wanted to use this competition to see how far actually James is.”
