Stoke City chairman Peter Coates says Ryan Shawcross deserves his England call.

Coates believes that the 25-year-old has earned a place in the 23-man squad for his excellent displays at the Britannia Stadium over recent seasons.

"We're really delighted," he told talkSPORT. "It's great for Ryan and it's really good for the club.

"I'm pleased for Ryan because he's in our view one of the best English central defenders in the Premier League. He keeps getting better and I think he deserves the opportunity. I'm really pleased that Roy Hodgson has called him up.

"He's getting better all the time. He had a little bit of a setback with the unfortunate incident with Aaron Ramsey. He was upset about it. We were all upset about it. Unfortunately these things happen in football sometimes but he's got over it and he's played really well.

"This season he's been excellent again. We've played several of the big clubs, defended extremely well against them and I guess things like that influence the England manager."