In another world, James Trafford would be making an emotional and triumphant return on Saturday to Manchester City with Burnley as the Clarets' shot-stopping extraordinaire. But instead he will be watching his former side take on City from the bench, watching the recently crowned Yashin trophy winner Gianluigi Donnarumma keep goal instead.
Trafford was one of the hottest properties in the goalkeeping market after his record-breaking season with Burnley last year, conceding just 16 goals in the Championship and boasting a save percentage of 85 percent. He looked destined to move to Newcastle United and the Magpies would have been a fine destination for him, offering him Champions League football for the first time. But City, who he left for Burnley in 2023 without making a first team appearance, had placed a matching clause in the terms of his contract and it allowed them to equal Newcastle's bid and take Trafford back to the Etihad Stadium.
It was a surprise move but there was a certain logic to it from Trafford's point of view as Ederson was winding down his long spell at City with one year left on his contract and the No. 1 spot was up for grabs. But the Brazilian fast-tracked his exit to join Fenerbahce towards the end of the transfer window and City jumped at the opportunity to sign Donnarumma.
Now Trafford is competing with arguably the top goalkeeper in the world, who has been performing at the highest level for the last decade but is only 26. And after starting the first three Premier League games of the season, Trafford is now confined to the bench for league and European games, with games in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup likely to be his only source of minutes unless Donnarumma gets injured or his form dramatically declines.
With Trafford likely regretting his decision to return to City and reports emerging already of him seeking a loan move in January, GOAL takes a look at other transfer decisions which quickly backfired from the point of view of the player…
Getty Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid to Barcelona, 2019)
Antoine Griezmann made a real song and dance of his choice to resist the temptation of a move to Barcelona from Atletico Madrid in 2018, following in the footsteps of Lebron James and making a documentary called 'The Decision' in which he weighed up the pros and cons of joining Lionel Messi at the Camp Nou. He opted to stay at Atletico and signed a new contract. And that was where the matter should have ended.
But after all that, Griezmann signed for Barca anyway just one year later, infuriating Atletico directors and supporters who thought the Frenchman had committed his entire career to them. Barca, meanwhile, were already suspicious of a player who had let them down a year before. Griezmann was weighed down by his €120m (£104m/$140m) transfer fee and flopped at Barca, struggling to combine with Messi and Luis Suarez.
In his first season he scored only nine La Liga goals, his worst tally in eight years and which remains the fourth worst of his career. The departure of Suarez only made things worse as the Uruguayan inspired Atletico to win the title. Griezmann returned to Atletico after two miserable years in which he won zero league titles and Barca were humiliated in the Champions League.
AdvertisementGetty Alvaro Morata (Juventus to Real Madrid, 2016)
The Spanish striker's career had taken off at Juventus after leaving Real Madrid in 2014. He had scored his share of crucial goals, including to take the Old Lady to the Champions League final at Madrid's expense and to win the Coppa Italia final. But Real had inserted a buy-back clause in the terms of his transfer and they exercised it in 2016.
It must have been hard for Morata to resist the lure of returning to his boyhood club but a quick look at the world class quality in their attack, which included Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema in their prime, should have told him that he was rarely going to be a starter back at the Santiago Bernabeu.
So it proved and although Madrid won La Liga and the Champions League and Morata scored 18 goals, he was never a regular player for Zinedine Zidane's side, starting 14 league games and just once in Europe. He left Madrid after just one season to join Chelsea, a move which turned out to be an even bigger disaster. He is now back in Italy at Como, the seventh club and 10th separate spell in a career where he never settled anywhere for more than two years.
Getty Images SportKalvin Phillips (Leeds United to Man City, 2022)
Kalvin Phillips' transfer to City in the summer of 2022 made sense at the time, as the midfielder had honed his playing style at Leeds United under Marcelo Bielsa, one of Pep Guardiola's coaching mentors, and played a key role in England's run to the final of the European Championship a year earlier.
But Phillips got off to a difficult start at the Etihad as he injured his shoulder in a friendly against Barcelona and needed to have surgery. Guardiola then questioned Phillips' lifestyle by accusing him of returning from the 2022 World Cup overweight and kept leaving him out of the starting line up, including when he rotated the rest of his squad for the FA Cup semi-final against Sheffield United.
Not even a three-match suspension for Rodri in the first half of the following campaign could help Phillips stake a claim for a regular role, and he left City for loan spells at West Ham and Ipswich Town having made just six starts in all competitions, three of which City went on to lose. Phillips' stock had been so badly damaged that there were no takers for him last summer, leaving him no choice but to return to City. He made a surprise return to action against Huddersfield Town in the Carabao Cup this week.
Hulton ArchivePaul Gascoigne (Newcastle to Tottenham, 1988)
Paul Gascoigne may have had many magical moments at Tottenham but his decision to move to Spurs over Manchester United is one of the great what-ifs in football. Gazza had given Sir Alex Ferguson his word and was all set to move to the Red Devils from boyhood club Newcastle but changed his mind and went to Spurs instead after they agreed to buy a car for his dad and a sunbed for his sister.
Gazza's career was famously destroyed by his alcoholism – plus some nasty injuries – and the popular perception is that Ferguson, who put an end to United's drinking culture when he took charge, would have straightened him out. The legendary manager later revealed that not signing Gascoigne was his biggest regret. "I think if we'd have got him, he would have had a great career, I really do. I'm not saying he didn't have a good career but he would have had a better career with us," he said in 2021.
Gascoigne, however, disputes that. He told the Rest is Football podcast: "People always say it would have been different if I'd signed for Man United, he would have kept us under control. Well, Eric Cantona two-footed someone in the neck in the stands, Wayne Rooney went with a granny and Ryan Giggs went with his brother's wife. So, I might have fitted in."