Newcastle United agreed personal terms with 'special' £20m star as fresh move lined up

Trafford was the talk of Tyneside on Friday night after he saved two penalties against Newcastle’s bitter rivals Sunderland to earn Burnley a share of the spoils at Turf Moor.

The Magpies tried to sign the 22-year-old last summer but didn’t meet the Clarets’ £20million asking price. Trafford was understood to have already agreed personal terms but Eddie Howe’s side walked away from negotiations following the arrival of Odysseas Vlachodimos and John Ruddy.

But United retain an interest and will strongly consider revisiting a deal in the summer. And if they in need of a glowing reference then they’ve one after Burnley boss Scott Parker described the Carlisle-born goalkeeper as “special” and someone who has “absolutely humongous potential”.

“I think so,” said the former Newcastle captain when asked if Trafford will become a regular for England. “In terms of what we’ve seen from him, this is a boy with absolutely humongous potential. I still think there’s so much more to come from him.

“I’ve got nothing but positives to say about James. When I first came in there were some struggles and he came out the back of a season last year that was difficult for Traf, a young boy, going into that division, he had some hard times.

“But this is a special keeper with absolutely huge potential. You see that confidence. He believes in himself and to get to that top, top level you have to have that certain belief, that arrogance. He’s got that and he backs it up.”

Trafford’s antics, as well as heroics, against Sunderland resonated with Geordies, many of whom jokingly pleaded on social media to “sign him up”.

For the first penalty, Trafford removed his gloves and left striker Wilson Isidor waiting with the ball on the spot. Trafford feinted to go to his left, then walked and dived to the right, saving with ease.

And then for the second spot-kick, Trafford went down to ground complaining about his hamstring. He was booked for his antics but they worked a treat as he again denied Isidor on the same side.

“I think that’s probably him, really,” Parker added. “Over the last four or five months we’ve seen him maturing, understanding certain things and (you see that) in the way he went about what he needed to do.

“He was a guy in the spotlight tonight and I get the impression Traf loved every second of that.”