Name: Ryan Shawcross
Position: Centre Back
Date of Birth: 4/10/1987
Nationality: English
Place of Birth: Chester
Squad Number: 17
Nickname: Shawx
Former Clubs: Manchester United, Royal Antwerp
Joined Stoke: 2008 (£2 million)

Widely regarded as the only good thing ever to come out of Manchester United, the England Under 21 international Shawcross is a very exciting prospect, having excelled at both Championship and Premier League level for Stoke.

He originally joined the Potters on loan from the Old Trafford side days before the start of the 2007/08 season, and made a dream start to his Stoke career, scoring the winning goal on the opening day of the season away at Cardiff and then netting again in a cup tie at Rochdale days later. His goalscoring and uncompromising style made him extremely popular with Stoke fans, as he formed a formidable partnership with Leon Cort, going on to score eight vital goals in our promotion campaign. It was therefore with great relief for fans that Manchester United allowed him to join Stoke permanently in the January transfer window, Shawcross signing for an initial £1 million with add-ons taking the fee up to £2 million. He immediately further endeared himself to the Britannia Stadium faithful, saying he would far rather play for Stoke than be a minor player at Old Trafford.

He actually began life in the Premier League very badly, looking completely out of his depth as we lost to Bolton on the first day, which led many people, me included, to advocate that he be sent back on loan to the Championship to gain more experience. With Abdoulaye Faye, Ibrahima Sonko and Cort all ahead of him in the pecking order, he didn’t feature again for the first team until October, but, finally given his chance to impress again, he took it gratefully, showing a new maturity to his game that has since led him to establishing himself as one of the first names on Tony Pulis’s team sheet for each game. With Shawcross playing alongside the indomitable Faye, whose quality has doubtless brought Shawcross’s game along, few strikers relish playing against Stoke.

Remarkably, into his twenties, Shawcross was still growing, and in now four inches taller than he was when he first joined Stoke, at an impressive 6′5”. This has made him a potent weapon from set pieces, and though he went over a year without scoring, from February 2008 to March 2009, he came good when it mattered, scoring vital headed goals against Aston Villa and Middlesbrough, to propel us towards survival, as well a a consolation at Everton.

He excelled throughout the opening months of the 2009/10 season, but attracted controversy in February 2010 when his mistimed tackle left Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey with a badly broken leg. He received his first career sending off for the challenge, but has been widely absolved of blame by the media, with most people feeling the incident was just a terrible accident. In an amazing twist, just hours after the end of the game against Arsenal, which finished 3-1 to the Gunners, Shawcross was given his first call-up to the full England squad and, despite not featuring in the following Wednesday’s friendly win over Egypt, his future for his country looks to be bright.

With his strength, aerial ability, positional sense and pace belying his years, Shawcross seems destined to make waves at the highest level of football. For Stoke the priority has to be to hang on to him and continue to benefit from having him in the side.

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