James Vaughan

James Oliver Vaughan (born 14 July 1988) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward.

He is currently the loans pathway manager at Everton.

Vaughan, who was born in Birmingham, signed his first professional contract with Everton.

He scored his second league goal in the 93rd minute of a 2–0 win over West Ham United.

Vaughan suffered a severed foot artery in a match with Bolton.

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

His career at the club was blighted by a number of injuries which limited his opportunities to establish himself in the first team.

Vaughan joined Everton's Youth Academy and was voted by his teammates as the Under-16s player of the season for 2003–04.

He scored a number of goals for the reserve team during the 2004–05 season, making his full debut for the club in the same season.

He played for the club between 2005 and 2011, including loan spells at Derby County, Leicester City and Crystal Palace, before signing for Norwich in May 2011.

He became the Premier League's youngest-ever goalscorer in 2005, and still holds that record.

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 Liverpool 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.

His 73rd-minute substitute appearance for the first team against Crystal Palace on his debut on 10 April 2005, which included a goal, meant that he overtook James Milner as the Premier League's youngest scorer at 16 years and 271 days as well as Wayne Rooney as Everton's youngest top flight goal scorer.

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.

A series of complications sidelined him for the remainder of the campaign and he did not have the chance to establish himself as a regular in the senior squad.

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

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.

On 8 September 2010, Vaughan joined Crystal Palace, the club against which he had become the Premier League's youngest goal-scorer, on a three-month loan deal.

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.

On 27 May 2011, Vaughan signed for newly promoted Premier League club Norwich City on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee.

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.

On 24 August 2012, Vaughan joined newly promoted Football League Championship side 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 side'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 then had a loan spell at Huddersfield Town for the majority of the 2012–13 season, before signing permanent terms on 3 July 2013.

He spent two-and-a-half seasons with Huddersfield before joining Birmingham City on loan.

On 3 July 2013, Vaughan signed a three-year deal with Huddersfield for an undisclosed fee.

He made his second debut for the club in the 1–0 defeat by Nottingham Forest on 3 August.

The move was made permanent at the end of the 2015–16 season, but his stay was brief, as he joined Bury in August 2016.

Vaughan played for just a single season at Bury, making 40 appearances and scoring 24 times.

He completed a move to Championship club Sunderland in July 2017, playing 27 times before leaving to join Wigan Athletic in January 2018.

He spent time on loan at Portsmouth in 2018–19.

He has represented England at under-17, under-19 and under-21 age groups, but later expressed a desire to represent Jamaica at international level.