Stoke City chairman Peter Coates rates Ryan Shawcross alongside former Arsenal defender Steve Bould.
Coates believes City are in a stronger position to hang on to their top players, and considers Shawcross the best English centre-back they’ve had since Bould.
He said: “He would have to be. I remember losing Steve Bould and that was a great disappointment to me. It came about with Lee Dixon going from here to Arsenal.
“I am sure Lee said to George Graham, the then Arsenal manager, that he should take Steve Bould too because he was a terrific young player. He was right.
“George Graham later said to me that Steve was the best pound-for-pound player he ever bought. That’s how good he was.
“But I’d gone to the tribunal with George and he’d said Steve would only be a squad player.
“Of course, he then never missed a game, but you just have to live with that.”
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