England believe Vaughan will be back playing early next year

Vaughan has been ruled out of the Ashes series starting in November because his rehabilitation from knee surgery is going to take at least six months.

But Graveney said the 31-year-old's long-term future was not in doubt.

He told BBC Five Live: "There's no suggestion that Michael Vaughan's career is under major threat. The Ashes were always going to be a close call."

Interview: David Graveney on Vaughan

The England and Wales Cricket Board medical team issued a statement on Thursday saying Vaughan's knee specialist had advised his rehabilitation be taken slowly in order to give the surgery the best chance of success.

The statement added: "As a consequence, Michael has been ruled out of the Ashes Test series and will be targeting a return to cricket early in 2007 with a view to being available for selection for the World Cup."

Yorkshire chief executive Stewart Regan believed the 31-year-old would come back a stronger person from his injury ordeal.

"He's in a very positive state of mind and has talked about starting his training in two or three months time Yorkshire chief executive Stewart Regan

He told the BBC: "I think he'll use the next few months to get himself really fit and we look forward to welcoming him back for Yorkshire next season.

"There's always going to be speculation whenever a high-profile sportsman undertakes an operation like this.

"Michael has had advice he's decided to follow. That advice was to undergo surgery and he's undertaken the surgery.

"The surgery has revealed an injury which is worse than was anticipated and fortunately that's now been put right.

"He's in a very positive state of mind and has talked about starting his training in two or three months time.

"He's hoping to play cricket again very early in the new year and I hope he'll be playing for Yorkshire again at the start of the season."