Yorkshire's consultant physiotherapist Wayne Morton has refuted reports that England captain Michael Vaughan's career might be in jeopardy because of the knee injury which has kept him out of action for several months.

Morton revealed that Vaughan was still within a period of three months' intensive rehabilitation work and he was adamant that the Test star was making excellent progress.

He also insisted that it would be unneccessary and not in Vaughan's best interests to change his treatment and visit Colorado specialist Richard Steadman - a suggestion made this week by Geoff Boycott.

Morton and Yorkshire physiotherapist Scott McAllister were put in charge of Vaughan's rehab programme after the pair had met the England management team on April 12 to express their concerns at Vaughan's health and to put forward their own ideas on his recovery programme.

England endorsed the rehab plan and schedule the pair had started the previous month and Morton and McAllister have been keeping in constant touch with England over the situation.

As happened at Lord's during the first Test, Vaughan has now joined up with England at Edgbaston where he will continue to work to the programme which has been laid out for him.

"We said at the start that it would take around three months for Michael to complete his rehab and we are still within that schedule," said Morton.

"Reports in the first few weeks of his rehab that England were worried about his future career were completely unfounded and upsetting for Michael.

"I would say that he is absolutely on target for what we want and that he is working very hard on his programme. He is doing really well and although he had a slight setback he is still well within the framework which we have set.

"Some people have said things about Michael without knowing anything about the nature of the rehab work he is doing and he can do without that sort of pressure.

"High-profile sportsmen like Michael are under constant pressure not to stick to time-scales, but the road to full recovery is a long and lonely one and Michael is working extremely hard to make sure that he is 100 per cent fit when he returns."

Morton added that he thought it was a good thing for Michael to join the England camp during Test matches, the second Test against Sri Lanka started today at Edgbaston.

"It keeps him in the England fold as well as working on his rehab."

Updated: 10:06 Thursday, May 25, 2006