Chelsea or Crystal Palace could provide Bolton Wanderers with James Trafford 2.0 | OneFootball

Bolton Wanderers have been linked with moves for Teddy Sharman-Lowe and Owen Goodman as they seek to unearth their next James Trafford.

Bolton Wanderers are beginning the first summer transfer window of the Steven Schumacher era and there are plenty of areas of the pitch for the Trotters to work on fixing, but arguably the biggest is between the sticks.

Wanderers have announced in their retained list that goalkeeper Nathan Baxter, now the subject of interest from Watford, will be departing the club alongside former captain Ricardo Santos and vice-captain Gethin Jones.

As well as Baxter, Bolton-born ‘keeper Joel Coleman will also depart the club, leaving Luke Southwood and youngster Luke Hutchinson as the goalkeepers that remain contracted to the club in the first-team squad.

The expectation is that Schumacher makes the goalkeeper position a priority this summer, and they have already been linked with Chelsea’s Teddy Sharman-Lowe as well as Owen Goodman, of Crystal Palace.

That would suggest exploring the loan market for their new number one is the way that they are going this summer and there will be a hope that that strategy helps them unearth someone who can have the same impact that James Trafford did at the club.

EFL loans for Trafford, Goodman & Sharman-Lowe

Prior to Trafford’s arrival at Bolton in the January transfer window of 2022, he spent a part of the first-half of that campaign on loan at Wanderers’ fellow Lancastrians Accrington Stanley from Manchester City.

His stint at Stanley was not the best, though, finding himself dropped on two separate occasions by John Coleman after conceding 26 goals in 11 League One appearances for the club with just two clean sheets, eventually ending up at Bolton mid-way through the season.

In contrast, it could therefore be said that both Sharman-Lowe and Goodman have had even better starts to their respective professional careers than Trafford, who went on to become instrumental for the Whites and will now once again be playing Premier League football next season.

Sharman-Lowe kept 13 clean sheets for Doncaster Rovers as Grant McCann’s first-choice goalkeeper, playing every minute as Donny won League Two this season, with the 22-year-old Chelsea shot-stopper also key in Doncaster’s progressive build-up play from the back.

Goodman, on the other hand, has kept 23 clean sheets in 47 appearances for AFC Wimbledon, the most in League Two, as well as two in their play-off semi-final against Notts County, and has marked himself out as arguably the best ‘keeper in the fourth-tier on loan from Crystal Palace.

Their potential has been shown to a higher level than Trafford had before his move to Bolton and, given Bolton’s successful recent past with the signing of Trafford from another Premier League giant, a loanee of their quality in net should surely excite Bolton supporters.

Trafford’s influence at Bolton & Burnley

After that disappointing spell at Accrington, Trafford then went on to become an instrumental player for Bolton as they rose to a ninth-place finish in the 2021/22 League One season, following their promotion from League Two the previous year, with seven clean sheets in 22 appearances in that campaign.

A year later, having re-signed for the club, he was once again instrumental as they kept the second-best defensive record in the division, conceding just 36 goals in the regular season before defeat in the play-off semi-finals to Barnsley. He also kept crucial clean sheets in the semi-final and final as Bolton won the EFL Trophy.

Following his successful year-and-a-half at Wanderers, he moved to newly-promoted Burnley in the summer of 2023 for a fee believed to be in the region of £15 million but suffered in an error-prone Clarets side that attempted to play a high-risk but frankly naïve style in the Premier League.

In the Championship this season, though, he has earned himself a call-up to the England national team once again and marked himself out as one of the best young goalkeepers in Europe with a frankly ridiculous 29 clean sheets in 45 Championship matches, conceding just 16 goals for Scott Parker’s side.

Sharman-Lowe and Goodman have already got a better grounding in the EFL than Trafford had when he arrived at Bolton, so if Wanderers do manage to force either of those deals across the line, then there will be hope, with reason, that Bolton could have a similar success with a loan deal from the Premier League between the sticks next season.

Wanderers’ defensive numbers were woeful this year as one of the pre-season title favourites finished ten points outside of the top six and the play-off places, conceding 70 goals in their 46 League One games.

A new goalkeeper is the first port of call for putting those wrongs right.