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Charlie Trafford


Fussball_eh

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Anybody firmiliar enough with him to tell us a little bit? Style of play, strengths,  weaknesses etc? 

He's a central midfielder, he's very tall, and I think is a #8 like Atiba. And can come up with the occasional wonder goal. He's probably too good for the Finnish league and will be moving on when his contract ends at the end of the season.

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Sportsnet has an article up on Trafford. Perhaps the following quote will clarify that he was already on the radar, calming previous concerns that the national team actually keeps in contact with players that could be of use (specifically referring to mserson's arguments on the first page)

“I’ve had a few talks with them before, so I knew I was on their radar. You can’t predict something like this. I wasn’t sitting at home in Finland saying they’re going to call me now. But it was still a pretty big shock, even though I knew I was getting close because you never know how and when it will happen. I wasn’t trying to think about it too much, and just letting it take care of itself. In the end it did,” Trafford said.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/charlie-trafford-canada-ghana-finland-friendly/

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Sportsnet has an article up on Trafford. Perhaps the following quote will clarify that he was already on the radar, calming previous concerns that the national team actually keeps in contact with players that could be of use (specifically referring to mserson's arguments on the first page)

 

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/charlie-trafford-canada-ghana-finland-friend

Man this kid is a beauty. His attitude is a breath of fresh air in the world of primadonna, entitled, spoiled pro footballers. As for the rumours of him playing for Poland it seems like that was never a serious consideration as he states in the article he's wanted to play for Canada for a long time, and he's honoured to do so now. He also states that he grew up watching Canada games and he follows the team now and watches when he can. Interesting also is he believes playing for Canada may help him find a new club in a better league.

Also where do we get one of those slick blue track jackets?! There's none on the CSA's shop right now.

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Sportsnet has an article up on Trafford. Perhaps the following quote will clarify that he was already on the radar, calming previous concerns that the national team actually keeps in contact with players that could be of use (specifically referring to mserson's arguments on the first page)

 

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/charlie-trafford-canada-ghana-finland-friendly/

There was an article with interviews with Calum Ferguson, Matt Lam and Jamar Dixon, and in it Dixon mentioned he'd been talking to the CSA. Looks like they are aware of the players in Finland, which is nice to see.

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I just read over our posts from the first page and it seems that I was correct that there's been at least a dialogue between CT and the CSA on some level.

That combined with Fraser Aird revealing that he and his dad had been in contact with Mike Findley shows that the CSA may be doing more than previously thought to keep guys in the fold.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I wonder if a move to the Eredivisie is out of the question? It would be with a bottom table club, but standing out in the Netherlands would bode well for him and really open up some doors.

As far as I know, it is not uncommon for the star players to jump straight to the Eredivisie from Finland. Being a key member of his Finnish club, I like think he is one of them, but he might not be quite there yet. 

I think it is most likely he takes a small step up, given the fact that he is trialing. Without knowing exactly where he is trialing, I am expecting him to latch on to a top flight club Norway or Sweden, and I think he has an outside shot with a top flight Danish team. Of course, you have to imagine Poland is also an option. That shouldn't be too great of a step up for him.

I would prefer he avoids Germany. I think our players get lost in the shuffle over there more often than not. REB, Hainault, and Ledgerwood are players we've seen drop down a division in Germany. Straith too dropped a level after starting life in the 2. Bundesliga. The only one to really jump up through the divisions was Ocean,  moving from 3. Liga to Bundesliga on the strength of goal scoring form. That had become the exception rather than the norm for us.

I think a move up within Scandinavia will give him a better opportunity to get noticed again in a year or two. In some ways a move to 3. Liga is too big of a jump, although I am not quite convinced that league is better than the top Scandinavian leagues. It is just too competitive down there, I feel.

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Does he have an EU passport? I thought in Holland they still have a min. contract that non-EU players over age 21 have to sign (500K or something?). If he does then Holland is a possibility since he was already there as a young player i believe.

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Poland would be a very good league to see him in, the big teams there are very respectable clubs and if he could impress enough in the league maybe he gets a shot with Legia Warsaw or Lech Poznan. On the other hand there are a lot of examples of Finnish based players using Sweden as that next step. 

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I wonder if a move to the Eredivisie is out of the question? It would be with a bottom table club, but standing out in the Netherlands would bode well for him and really open up some doors.

As far as I know, it is not uncommon for the star players to jump straight to the Eredivisie from Finland. Being a key member of his Finnish club, I like think he is one of them, but he might not be quite there yet.

I think it is most likely he takes a small step up, given the fact that he is trialing. Without knowing exactly where he is trialing, I am expecting him to latch on to a top flight club Norway or Sweden, and I think he has an outside shot with a top flight Danish team. Of course, you have to imagine Poland is also an option. That shouldn't be too great of a step up for him.

I would prefer he avoids Germany. I think our players get lost in the shuffle over there more often than not. REB, Hainault, and Ledgerwood are players we've seen drop down a division in Germany. Straith too dropped a level after starting life in the 2. Bundesliga. The only one to really jump up through the divisions was Ocean,  moving from 3. Liga to Bundesliga on the strength of goal scoring form. That had become the exception rather than the norm for us.

I think a move up within Scandinavia will give him a better opportunity to get noticed again in a year or two. In some ways a move to 3. Liga is too big of a jump, although I am not quite convinced that league is better than the top Scandinavian leagues. It is just too competitive down there, I feel.

It's a pretty big jump in quality from Finnish 1st div to even bottom Eredivisie. Unless Trafford showed something outstanding, can't see him getting picked up.

Mid tier Scandinavia 1st div hopefully is next step up.

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