His good form prompted Stoke to pay Manchester United £1 million in January 2008 to keep him at the Britannia Stadium.

He formed a good defensive partnership with Leon Cort as Stoke gained promotion to the Premier League for the first time, ending 23 years away from the top flight.

Despite making a bad start to Premier League football, Shawcross established himself as first-choice centre-back along with Abdoulaye Faye.

Stoke comfortably stayed up, and after another mid-table finish in 2009–10, Shawcross was handed the captaincy by manager Tony Pulis ahead of the 2010–11 season.

The run to the final also meant that Stoke entered the UEFA Europa League in 2011–12, and they reached the round of 32 losing to Spanish team Valencia.

[5] During his primary school days, Shawcross played representative level football for Flintshire Boys; this team counts Gary Speed, Michael Owen and Ian Rush amongst its former players.

[19] He lost his place in the team for the final few matches of the promotion winning season to loan signing Chris Riggott.

[21] At the end of the 2007–08 season, Shawcross was named in the Championship PFA Team of the Year along with teammates Ricardo Fuller and Liam Lawrence.

[24] In a match against Arsenal in November 2008, a Shawcross off-the-pitch tackle led to a three-week injury to Emmanuel Adebayor.

[36][37] Shawcross, who apologised via text message,[38] was defended by his teammates Danny Pugh and Rory Delap after the match.

[41] After a number of impressive performances for Stoke Shawcross has again been linked with a move away from the Britannia Stadium, however City chairman Peter Coates issued a 'Hand off warning'.

[47] Prior to the start of the 2011–12 season, manager Tony Pulis confirmed that Shawcross would remain as club captain.

[50] In a Premier League match against Everton on 15 December 2012 Shawcross was deliberately headbutted by Marouane Fellaini which was missed by referee Mark Halsey.

[61][62] Shawcross missed just one match in 2013–14 as Stoke finished in 9th position in the Premier League and he also won the player of the year award.

[64] Against Swansea City on 29 October 2014, Shawcross was penalised by referee Michael Oliver for holding Wilfried Bony at a corner.

[69] He played 37 times for Stoke in 2014–15 as the Potters finished in 9th position for a second season running and they ended the campaign with a 6–1 victory against Liverpool.

[80] Shawcross made 27 appearances in 2017–18 as Stoke suffered relegation to the Championship, ending their ten-year spell in the Premier League.

[88] Shawcross made his return against Luton Town on 10 December 2019 but lasted only 14 minutes after picking up a groin injury.

[95][96] Shawcross' contract was cancelled by mutual consent on 19 February 2021 ahead of a move to Inter Miami CF in the United States.

[101] In January 2008, Shawcross won his first call up to the England under-21 squad for a 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match against the Republic of Ireland.

[109] Shawcross was called up to the England team by Roy Hodgson on 4 October 2012 for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Poland and San Marino.

[111] During Shawcross' 16 minutes on the pitch Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimović scored a hat-trick which included a 30-yard bicycle kick.

Shawcross was not called up again by Roy Hodgson and claimed in March 2016 said that Ibrahimović had ended his England career before it had started.