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

He was spotted by Everton's talent scouts at nine years of age while playing in his primary school's football team[6] and joined the club's academy.

[13] 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.

[16] 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.

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

[21][22] On 24 August 2012, Vaughan joined newly promoted Football League Championship side Huddersfield Town on a season-long loan arrangement.

[23] 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.

[31] He missed a penalty in Birmingham's FA Cup loss to Premier League club Bournemouth that would have given his side a lead,[32] and finished the season with no goals from 16 appearances, most of which were as a substitute.

[39][40] 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.

[42] 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.

[46] 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.

[49] The deal was made permanent in August 2020,[50] after parent club Bradford City agreed a mutual decision to terminate the remainder of Vaughan's contract.