Burnley goalkeeper and Premier League benchwarmer Arijanet ‘Aro’ Muric could be playing Champions League football in 2024 with Union Berlin eyeing up a January deal.
James Trafford may have made his name during England’s victorious U21 European Championship campaign with that penalty save, but his track record from 12 yards was not the main reason why Burnley decided to invest £19 million in a man who was playing third-tier football on loan at Bolton Wanderers just last season.
As you might expect from a man who honed his talents in Manchester City’s space-age academy, Trafford is the very definition of a modern, ball-playing goalkeeper. A shot-stopper with the passing range of a playmaker.
Aro Muric could leave Burnley for Bundesliga
Trafford followed in the footsteps of Aro Muric, another Man City graduate, when moving to Turf Moor over the summer. The former has since taken the latter’s place between the sticks. And, as a result, Sky Germany believe that Muric’s Burnley future is now in question.
One of the first names on Kompany’s team sheet as Burnley cruised to the Championship title, Muric finds himself twiddling his thumbs on the bench these days, with the perennial overachievers of German football Union Berlin offering themselves as a potential escape route ahead of the January transfer window.
Union, Sky say, want Muric on loan with an option-to-buy clause in his contract.
From Premier League to Champions League
Should Burnley accept – Kompany would want a replacement before letting the Kosovan go – Muric may be joining a club dancing on the Champions League stage, even if successive group-stage defeats to Real Madrid and Braga threaten to spring open a trapdoor under Union Berlin’s feet.
First-team football, however, would not necessarily be any easier to come by in the German capital. In one-time Nottingham Forest target Frederick Ronnow, Union boast one of the most underrated glovesmen in European football between the sticks.
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