IAN Evatt believes James Trafford will go on to become England’s number one goalkeeper.

Fresh from helping England lift the European Championship for the first time since 1984 with an unblemished record of six games with no goals conceded, Trafford dropped in to see his former club play against non-league Curzon Ashton on Tuesday night.

The Manchester City stopper is in the process of completing a £19million move to Burnley – having spent the last 18 months on loan with the Whites in League One.

Evatt was delighted to see him make an appearance at the Tameside Stadium, and reckons it won’t be the last flying visit.

“It shows what the club means to him, and vice-versa. He was like an excited little kid,” said the Bolton boss.

“He wishes us all the best. He is already talking about coming on some away days during the international breaks and stuff like that.

“We think the world of him, and he is a brilliant kid. I love him to bits and am so proud of him.

“I said to him, though, that while he is the first one to go and make a huge name for himself, he won’t be the last.

“I’m immensely proud of what he achieved with us, with England and I think he will go on now to have a huge career in the Premier League and become England’s number one, I really do.”

Should Trafford’s deal go through, it would make him the third most expensive English keeper of all time behind Jordan Pickford and Aaron Ramsdale – another goalkeeper with Bolton connections.

Evatt is looking to build this season’s team around permanent signings and has brought in Nathan Baxter and Joel Coleman to strengthen his goalkeeping department this summer.

Nevertheless, he is proud of the progress Trafford made at Wanderers from his early days where some doubted the logic of bring in a teenage goalkeeper.

“I’d like a few more James Traffords worth £19million in the future,” he said. “But I’d like us to own them.

“It is credit to where this club has got to. We have built relationships with the top clubs and we are trusted with their talent.

You have to remember James’s journey, he had a failed loan at Accrington, everyone wrote him off, and it is funny to read that there are not so many now. It is a funny game football, sometimes.”