James Vaughan

Full Name : James Oliver Vaughan

Date of Birth : 14th July 1988

James Vaughan was spotted by Everton's talent scouts whilst playing in the Preston area. He was a member of the 2002 Milk Cup winning squad and voted by his fellow team-mates as the Under-16s player of the season for 2003/4.

Vaughan scored a number of goals for the reserve team during the 2004/05 season, catching the eye of the manager. He was named among the substitutes for the first time on Saturday, February 19th for the FA Cup Fifth Round tie against Manchester United and was also named in the Blues' 16 a week later for the 3-1 win at Aston Villa . His 73rd-minute substitute appearance against Crystal Palace on April 10, 2005, ensured that the 16-year-old from Birmingham broke Joe Royle 's record as the club's youngest first-team player by 11 days, as he was just 16 years and 271 days old.

Then his 84th-minute strike not only made him Everton's youngest-ever scorer, surpassing Wayne Rooney at 16 years 360 days, but he also overtook James Milner as the Premiership 's youngest scorer, who previously held the record at 16 years 357 days.

Vaughan signed his first professional contract in the summer of 2005, agreeing a two year contract. Early in the 2005/06 campaign, however, he sustained a knee ligament injury whilst on international duty with England Under-18s. A series of complications sidelined him for the remainder of the campaign and did not have the chance to establish himself as a regular in the senior squad.

Vaughan made his return for Everton reserves on the 29/8/06 against Newcastle. He played 63 minutes scoring a goal in the process. Just two weeks later, Vaughan received a great morale boost when he was called up to the England under 19 squad.

In that U-19's game against Switzerland, for a further boost to his return, Vaughan came on as a second half substitute and scored a 90th- minute goal with a header that won the match for England, 3-2. He got his long awaited 2nd Everton goal in the 93rd minute of a 2-0 win over West Ham. Vaughan, despite suffering a severed foot artery in a match with Bolton, went on to score three more goals in the final stages of the 06/07 season including one against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

At the end of the 2006/07 season Vaughan extended his current contract with Everton until the summer of 2011. He was awarded the Evertonfc.com 'Young Player of the season' award, at an awards ceremony held at St. George's Hall , and was named in Stuart Pearce's 23-man squad for the England U21's European Championship campaign. His first appearance for the side came as a substitute in the 2-2 draw with Italy on June 14th.

On July 18th in a pre-season friendly, Vaughan suffered a dislocated shoulder following an innocuous challenge with Preston North End defender Youl Mawene . It is feared Vaughan may be out of action for up to 11 weeks. After this injury, Vaughan was said to be very upset and considered giving up the game.

He is, however, making good progress and is expected to return to Everton action before the end of November.