Stoke City FC

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Potters proud of Shawcross

01 Mar 2010 - 14:42:39

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Stoke City chairman Peter Coates has backed Ryan Shawcross to be a credit to his country after the 22-year-old was included in the England squad for Wednesday's international friendly against Egypt.

The former Manchester United youngster becomes the first Potters player to be selected by England for 26 years but the news was announced on the same day as Shawcross was involved in the incident that led to Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey suffering a horrific leg injury.

Shawcross was sent off and City went on to lose the match 3-1, but Coates said: "Everyone at the club is proud of what Ryan's achieved since he came to the Britannia Stadium and it's clear that he has a great future in the game.

"His development into one of the best defenders in the country has been outstanding and we firmly believe this will be the start of a long international career for him.

"The timing of this has been most unfortunate, but it should not detract from the fact that Ryan has made remarkable progress and deserves his call-up.

"While we're all deeply saddened at what's happened to Aaron, we believe that Ryan's worthy of this chance to represent his country and hopefully put himself in contention for a place in the England squad for the World Cup finals."