James Vaughan

Early life Born in Birmingham, West Midlands, Vaughan went to Hill West primary school and The Arthur Terry School in Four Oaks. He was spotted by Everton's talent scouts at nine years of age while playing in his primary school's football team and joined the club's academy. He attended Chesterfield High School in Crosby while at the academy. His father, property developer Dorrington Vaughan, played rugby union for Preston Grasshoppers.

Vaughan was also a talented young sprinter, running the 100 metres in 11.5 seconds as a 13-year-old, the third-fastest time for his age in Britain.

Vaughan signed his first professional contract in the summer of 2005, agreeing to a two-year contract. Early in the 2005–06 campaign, he sustained a knee ligament injury whilst on international duty with England Under-18s.

Vaughan played a total of 60 times for Everton, making only 8 league starts, and scored 9 goals.

Loan to Derby County In September 2009, Vaughan joined Football League Championship club Derby County on a three-month loan.

Loan to Leicester City On 11 March 2010, Vaughan joined Leicester City on an initial one-month loan deal; an option to extend it until the end of the season was later taken up. He scored his first goal for Leicester after coming on as a substitute against Watford. At the end of the loan spell he returned to Everton but, in January 2011, rejoined Palace until the end of the season. Vaughan made 30 appearances for Palace, scoring 9 times. Vaughan made his debut for the club against West Bromwich Albion on 11 September, and made just five league appearances in an injury-hit first season.

Loan to Huddersfield Town On 24 August 2012, Vaughan joined newly promoted Football League Championship team Huddersfield Town on a season-long loan arrangement. Vaughan made his debut for the Terriers in a 2–0 home victory over Burnley on 26 August, the team's first league win of the season. Vaughan scored his first goal as a Huddersfield Town player with the equalising goal in a 2–2 draw away at Ipswich Town on 1 September, and he later had a penalty saved. He made his second debut for the club in the 1–0 defeat by Nottingham Forest on 3 August. After scoring two goals in the League Cup win over Bradford City on 6 August, he scored his first league goal on his return in the 1–1 draw with Queens Park Rangers on 10 August. On 24 August, he scored a hat-trick in a 5–1 win against AFC Bournemouth. He made his debut as a second-half substitute in the next game, a 2–1 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion, and made six appearances in total without scoring. He missed a penalty in Birmingham's FA Cup loss to Premier League club Bournemouth that would have given his team a lead, and finished the season with no goals from 16 appearances, most of which were as a substitute. but no such move took place. He had been frustrated by his lack of first-team involvement in the second half of 2015–16 season, and when this continued into the new seasonhis only appearance was a start in the League Cup defeat to Oxford United He made a scoring debut three days later away to Walsall, with Bury's second goal as they came back from 3–0 down to secure a draw. During the 2016–17 season Vaughan scored 24 goals, and made a major contribution to Bury narrowly avoiding relegation on the final day of the season.

Sunderland On 13 July 2017, Vaughan joined Championship club Sunderland for an undisclosed fee reported to be around £500,000, reuniting him with former Huddersfield manager Simon Grayson. He scored his first goal for Sunderland in a 1–1 draw at Hull City on 16 September 2017.

Wigan Athletic On 12 January 2018, Vaughan signed for Wigan Athletic on an 18-month contract for an undisclosed fee, returning to League One after only scoring twice in 27 appearances for Sunderland.

Vaughan joined League One club Portsmouth on 31 January 2019 on loan until the end of the season. He made ten league appearances without scoring, played in the second leg of Portsmouth's play-off semi-final defeat to Sunderland,

Bradford City On 25 June 2019 it was announced that Vaughan would join League Two club Bradford City on 1 July, following his release by Wigan, on a three-year contract. Ahead of the new season he was named as Bradford City's new club captain.

Tranmere Rovers Vaughan joined League One club Tranmere Rovers on 29 January 2020 on loan for the remainder of the season.

The deal was made permanent in August 2020, after parent club Bradford City agreed a mutual decision to terminate the remainder of Vaughan's contract.

On 27 May 2021, Vaughan announced his retirement from professional football.

International career Youth Vaughan was called up to the England under-19 squad, scoring the winning goal after coming on as a second-half substitute against Switzerland. At the end of the 2006–07 season, Vaughan was named in Stuart Pearce's 23-man squad for England U21s' European Championship campaign. His first appearance for the team came as a substitute in the 2–2 draw with Italy U21s on 14 June 2007. Vaughan went on to make four appearances for the U21s between 2007 and 2011 with his record standing at one win, two draws and a loss. His final appearance for the U21s came in February 2011, also against Italy.

In October 2012, Vaughan tweeted that he wanted to represent Jamaica at international level.

Career statistics

Honours Everton FA Cup runner-up: 2008–09

Wigan Athletic EFL League One: 2017–18

Portsmouth EFL Trophy: 2018–19 Football League Championship Player of the Month: April 2013, August 2013 EFL League One Player of the Month: January 2017 PFA Team of the Year: 2016–17 League One,