Tranmere Rovers have signed forward James Vaughan on loan from Bradford City until the end of the season.

Vaughan, 31, becomes the third January recruit at Prenton Park following on from the arrivals of Peter Clarke and Alex Woodyard earlier this month.

A player who has featured in the Premier League with Everton, where he made 60 appearances after becoming the youngest top-flight goal scorer aged 16-years and 271 days against Crystal Palace in April 2005, Vaughan returns to Merseyside for his Rovers move.

He has since featured in all four tiers of the English professional game and joins TRFC after captaining Bradford in the first half of the campaign, scoring 11 times for the Valley Parade outfit.

Vaughan is eligible to make his Rovers debut in Saturday’s visit to Bolton Wanderers but is unable to play against Sunderland on Wednesday evening.

Speaking to the club's website, he said: “I’m really happy to be here, to finally get it done, I’m looking forward to getting started.

“There’s some good characters here that I’ve played with before, some big characters. But I’m experienced and hopefully my experience will help the team and get the results we need towards the end of the season.

"Everyone wants to play at the highest league they can and I enjoyed League One the last time so I'm hoping I can have the same success again. 

“He (Micky Mellon) didn’t have to convince me, I knew what it's about, and I knew what was needed. I’m just looking forward to getting going and helping the team out.

“I hope to bring a few goals to the team, along with that a bit of success for us."

Manager Micky Mellon added: “I’m really pleased to get him into the Club. To get players like that into the place is how we are going to move the thing forward.

“I like his qualities as a player, and I like his character. He’s a winner and he’s a competitor and he’s a goal scorer.

“He’ll be a very popular member of the group as well because he’s a good leader and he’s a good influence on the rest of the group, so all round he’ll be a very good signing for Tranmere.“