Stoke City captain Ryan Shawcross has ruled out leaving in January.

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has an option to buy back the defender who celebrates his 24th birthday on Tuesday.

He was also on ­Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish's shortlist of centre-halves. But skipper Shawcross, who has played every minute of Stoke's games so far in the ­Premier League and Europe, believes he's already at the right club to keep developing his game.

He said: "I always said that I wanted to play in Europe and Stoke City have given me that ­opportunity, so my future is here.

"I really do love it here, the fans are great and the manager is top class. He is probably the ­biggest factor in me wanting to be here because I really enjoy working under him.

"He keeps making me a ­better player and has shown unbelievable faith in me.

"With the group of lads we have here too, I don't think anyone would want to leave."