Shawcross. However, just three weeks later, he had a trial at Manchester United and was offered a contract at their academy. Club career Manchester United Shawcross progressed through the youth teams at Manchester United and made his first-team debut on 25 October 2006 as a substitute for fellow debutant Michael Barnes in a 2–1 League Cup third round win away at Crewe Alexandra. He also came on in the final minute of a 1–0 defeat to Southend United in the next round. In January 2007, he was sent on loan to Belgian club Royal Antwerp, where he appeared regularly, and helped Antwerp to make it into the Belgian Second Division play-offs, scoring three goals, before returning to Manchester in the summer. Stoke City On 9 August 2007, Shawcross was sent on loan again, this time to Championship club Stoke City, for six months. He scored his first two goals for Stoke during his first two matches, one on his debut during a 1–0 win on the opening day of the season, against Cardiff City, with the other during a League Cup match against Rochdale in which Stoke lost on penalties. After Stoke's 2–1 win over Charlton Athletic Shawcross expressed his delight at Stoke's early season form. Shawcross was named as the Championship's player of the month for October 2007. Stoke made advances to make Shawcross' loan permanent during the January 2008 transfer window, and the move was finally completed on 18 January 2008, with Stoke paying Manchester United an initial £1m, which eventually rose to a club record £2m due to Shawcross' appearances for Stoke and the team achieving promotion the following May. Additionally, Alex Ferguson negotiated a clause that gives Manchester United first refusal on any offer for the player. He lost his place in the team for the final few matches of the promotion winning season to loan signing Chris Riggott. Although he did play in the final match against Leicester City. 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. After starting in Stoke's first match in the Premier League in a 3–1 defeat away at Bolton Wanderers Shawcross lost his place in the team to new signing Ibrahima Sonko and he stated that he might have to leave Stoke if the manager signed another defender. Shawcross re-claimed his place