Leeds United's James Trafford gets England start hope & Thomas Tuchel reveals Jordan Pickford dropped reaction

Leeds United goalkeeper James Trafford could be handed another chance to stake his England claim during the November international break.

Trafford was one of two Leeds players called up to the England squad for upcoming matches against Spain and Croatia, joining Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The goalkeeper played twice during the extended four-game break earlier in the season with Thomas Tuchel keen to put pressure on long-term first-choice Jordan Pickford.

Since returning from that camp, Trafford has continued to play every minute for Leeds and barring one mistake at Bournemouth, has been excellent. The £40million summer signing has five clean sheets to his name while a save percentage of 81.4 per cent is the highest among European big-five league goalkeepers with 10 or more appearances, according to Opta.

But Pickford has also impressed for an Everton side sitting sixth in the league. Asked whether Pickford is still his No.1, Tuchel said: “No, he is. But nothing has changed. The competition is on there as well - like for the outfield players.

“And Traff gets regular starts now, that's what we wanted. James Trafford did well. They shared the matches last time. I'm not sure what we will do. There's an opportunity that we maybe do this again.

“I have to speak with our goalkeeper coach. But the goalkeepers, they are a bit of an unit for themselves, and rightly so."

Trafford is eight years younger than Pickford and widely expected to lay claim to the England No.1 shirt long-term. But there is currently little to separate the pair and Tuchel views competitive football outside of major tournaments as the perfect environment to test the Leeds man.

“Yes it's slightly different, but when do I have a chance to see another goalkeeper, if not in the Nations League? If not in high pressure matches?” he added. “So we had James against Spain, we asked ourselves is this fair for James Trafford to straightaway go against Spain, but I think it's exactly what we need.

“Because what happens if Jordan Pickford is injured? What happens if he's not available? So it's better to test it. Jordan knows about this. We want to use the Nations League for exactly that. But at the moment, nothing has changed. At the moment, he's the number one. And he just feels a bit of competition. Which is good for him.

"Surprisingly.... I was very impressed and a bit surprised by Jordan’s reaction when we spoke to him. I thought he'd be less of a fan than he proved to be. Because he said he totally understands it. Listen, they all want to get their caps.

“The goalkeepers know: if I'm out, I'm out. I have almost no chance to come in. As an outfield player you can accept it a little bit better because after 60 minutes you still have a chance to get your cap. Which you can't as a goalkeeper.

“But he impressed me a lot last time. We spoke to him, it was a very short conversation. It was very positive. He said 'yeah, let's do this, Traff deserves it, and I will push him'. And he didn't change at all. If he changed, he changed even to the positive, he pushed Traff, he gave him a good feeling. So very impressive, he did it very well.”