James Vaughan

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Having worked his way up through the Everton ranks, like many before him, 16-year-old James Vaughan must have got a huge rush knowing he would be on the bench for one Everton's biggest games of the 2004-05 season — an FA Cup 5th Round tie at home to Manchester United. 

And although his manager opted to bring on two defenders and accept the inevitable at Old Trafford and then left Vaughan warming the bench the following week at Aston Villa, another chance for his record debut came the following weekend against Crystal Palace.

With 15 minutes to go in that game,  David Moyes finally found the moment to bring on Vaughan for his senior debut.  At the tender age of 16 years & 271 days, he became the youngest Everton player ever, beating Joe Royle's debut age by 11 days.  

And what a way to celebrate the occasion: scoring a debut goal that made him the Youngest Ever Everton Goalscorer, and the Youngest Ever Premiership Goalscorer. 

Vaughan could not sign a professional contract until after his 17th birthday in July 2005 but after fruitful negotiations with Everton, Vaughan was signed on to a four-year deal that would hopefully see him consolidate his place on the highest rung of English football.

Things did not go well for James the following season, however, with just one sub appearance (v Fulham) after which he sustained a serious knee injury while playing with the England U-19s in September 2005.  Knee surgery was required, and the long recovery process began.

The path to recovery was long and problematic, with the knee breaking down not once but twice before he was finally dispatched to Dr Richard Steadman's world-renowned Colorado clinic in April 2006.  His recovery was reported to be 'progressing' with hopes that he might figure in Everton's pre-season training programme come July 2006.

Vaughan finally reappeared in November 2006, partly because David Moyes ran out of options, due to injuries.  Commenting on Vaughan's injury woes, Moyes said "It's been a slow process for James. He's been doing extra sessions, and he's probably just a bit too brave for his own good sometimes. I'm not too sure whether he'd have made the 16 for the [West Ham] match had we not had those injuries, but he deserves his moment."  And he took it well, firing low and hard through keeper Robert Green to confirm Everton's win in well into stoppage time.

Progress for Vaughan was slow, however, and long periods went by without him playing any part despite the failure of James Beattie to hit the net, and with Andy Johnson going through a number of barren spells.  So it was that nearly two years had elapsed from Vaughan's initial appearance as a sub at senior level before he was given a starting berth — in a massive game against Arsenal which the Blues won thanks to an injury-time goal by Johnson.

James's emergence from the Everton Academy coincided with that of Victor Anichebe but many have regarded Vaughan as the better all-round striker.  That would appear to be supported by the fact that he had the greater impact at a younger age but those long-term injuries enabled Anichebe to stake his own claim at Goodison, particularly in the first half of the 2007-08 season when he scored some crucial goals in the Blues' Uefa Cup campaign.

Vaughan, however, has proved deadly when fit and given a chance, as evidenced by his own Uefa Cup, the winning goal in a 3-2 victory against AZ Alkmaar in December 2007 that condemned the Dutch side to their first defeat on home soil in European competition for 32 years.

He has good aerial ability, terrific pace, a devastating eye for goal, excellent strength to hold off defenders, and a never-say-die attitude that makes him an exciting player to watch. He recently earned his promotion to the England U-21 squad.

But sheer enthusiasm, all too often misplaced in overly exuberant play, proved his downfall again. In early March 2008 his knee locked up in training and Vaughan was sent off to knee specialist Dr Richard Steadman for an operation to fix the problem, which kept him out until August.

He recovered from that in time for the US tour of 2008, and came on as a sub in the first game (Chicago Fire) only to get dismissed for a silly tackle with 2 mins to go.  There was talk that he would be suspended for the start of the season and David Moyes was apparently furious with him.

Vaughan's opportunities were restricted somewhat at the start of the 2008-09 season, perhaps due to more undisclosed problems with his knee that finally led to more surgery in November 2008... but not by  Dr Richard Steadman, who broke his arm skiing!  After a fruitless trip to Colorado, Vaughan had the surgery done in England and was back in training by March, but only a handful of sub appearances followed under Moyes's softly-softly approach to rehabilitation.

He made his return against Man Utd in the FA Cup semi-final, coming on in the first period of extra time and scoring his penalty in the shootout that saw Everton famously beat the Mancs 4-2. He went on to play in the FA Cup Final, coming on as a second half substitute. But mostly it was another season wasted, with not a single goal to show for his efforts. Near the end of the 2009 summer transfer window there were rumours of moves to Stoke, Newcastle and then (after the transfer window closed) Middlesbrough on loan.

Eventually he left for a three-month loan spell with Derby County, where it was hoped he would get plenty of injury-free first-team football. But that fell flat after just two games when he got injured in October cutting short the loan deal while he once again recovered from injury for an extended period.  Goodison was surprised to see hin named on the subs' bench in the game before Christmas 2009 but could not see much point in giving him 2 mins on the field when the game was effectively over.

By Michael Kenrick and Lyndon Lloyd
Last updated December 2009