Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross ‘not fussed’ about England call up

Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross admits he is ‘not fussed’ about gaining an England call up.

The 27-year-old centre-half has previously been called to several England squads but has only ever gained one cap in a friendly against Sweden in 2012.

Shawcross, who has missed the last six weeks through injury, has otherwise been in excellent form under Mark Hughes this season and is understood to be in the thoughts of Roy Hodgson.

But he told Sky Sports: “I just want to be fit and playing. If I get called up then that's brilliant but if don’t then it doesn’t bother me one bit.

“I’ve been playing well for three or four years now. I got into a couple of squads. I had one chance coming on for 10 minutes and obviously I didn’t play well enough.

“It’s one of them things. If I get in; brilliant. If not; I’m not fussed.  

“I’m delighted to be back after six weeks out. It’s been difficult, I was blowing a bit, but it’s nice to being back out on the pitch.”

Shawcross played 90 minutes in Stoke’s 1-0 defeat at West Brom on Saturday and he said he was “not one bit” pleased for former manager Tony Pulis.

“Our manager is Mark Hughes and the only thing I’m bothered about is Stoke City. We wanted to win today, we were desperate to, and it doesn’t matter who the other manager is.

“We’ve got a good points tally and we want to push on. We don’t want to limp now towards the end of the season. “