Stoke City hope Tottenham can provide them with Ryan Shawcross 2.0 | OneFootball

Ashley Phillips has all the tools to be a key man for the Potters if his loan move is made permanent like Shawcross in 2008

Stoke City's Tottenham Hotspur loanee centre-back Ashley Phillips has certainly impressed in ST4 this season, and the Potters will hope to sign him permanently this summer to try and repeat a 2008 transfer who went on to become a club legend in similar circumstances.

19-year-old Phillips joined Stoke on loan for the campaign last August with high expectations after a decent spell with Plymouth Argyle last season. The Potters have struggled under three different managers so far, but he has undoubtedly been a standout at the heart of defence.

The Manchester-born centre-back joined Spurs from Blackburn Rovers in 2023, but he has not yet been able to break through into Ange Postecoglou's first-team, and his chances are likely to be limited going forward despite his good showings in the Championship.

Stoke will, therefore, be anticipating a possible chance to sign him full-time this summer, and the circumstances echo a similar situation that played out over 17 years ago, when Ryan Shawcross signed for the club permanently from Manchester United after an initial loan spell in which he impressed.

Shawcross went on to become a club legend at the bet365 Stadium, and is now regarded as one of Stoke's greatest ever players. Phillips has a long way to go to come close to that, but the similarities are certainly there in both their situation and play-style, and he could become the Potters' next iconic capture this summer.

Ryan Shawcross became a Stoke City legend after his move from Manchester United

While the word 'legend' should not be bandied around too often in regard to footballers, Shawcross is a player that it undoubtedly applies to when looking at Stoke's most iconic players in recent times, and in the club's entire history.

The centre-back first arrived at the Britannia Stadium on loan from the Red Devils as a fresh-faced 19-year-old in August 2007, as the Potters looked to achieve promotion to the Premier League under Pulis, who had led them to an eighth-placed finish in the season prior.

His impact on the team was so clear that Stoke made his move a permanent one for just £1m in the 2008 January window, which soon rose to £2m as he played a key role in helping the Potters reach the promised land of the Premier League in his debut campaign, with seven goals in 41 league games.

Shawcross formed a strong partnership with Abdoulaye Faye in his early top-flight years, as he quickly grew into one of England's brightest young centre-back talents, and helped Stoke survive against all odds before being linked with possible moves to other Premier League teams.

He stayed on in ST4 though, and never looked back as he was handed the captaincy ahead of the 2010/11 season, then led the club into the 2011 FA Cup final against Manchester City, and soon their first European campaign in 36 years in the 2011/12 Europa League competition, with his solitary England cap coming in March 2012.

Shawcross was an almost ever-present across numerous seasons at the club, with just one league game missed in both the 2012/13 and 2013/14 campaigns, and his Stoke career was revitalised by Mark Hughes, who introduced a more possession-focused, slick style of play that saw the then-25-year-old win the Potters' Player of the Year award for 2013/14.

The England international offered a dogged balance to Hughes' team full of former Champions League stars like Xherdan Shaqiri, Bojan and Marko Arnautovic, but soon suffered from numerous back injuries that saw him sidelined a lot more often towards the end of Stoke's top-flight reign.

He was a part of the team that suffered relegation to the Championship in 2018, and played regularly on their return to the second-tier, but a serious injury in pre-season ahead of the 2019/20 season saw his Potters career all but ended, as he went on to feature just eight more times before an emotional exit in February 2021.

Ash Phillips has impressed at Stoke and could emulate Shawcross with a permanent deal

Stoke's current Championship campaign has been a turbulent one, to say the least, but Phillips has been a calming, mature presence at the back who plays beyond his years each week. His quality is telling, given that he has been better than each of the Potters' other centre-backs, such as Ben Wilmot, Ben Gibson and Michael Rose.

He began the season out of the team under Steven Schumacher and Narcis Pelach, but it was no coincidence that he started in five of the club's first six wins of the term, and he soon nailed down a consistent starting spot under the latter head-coach.

Phillips' first goal in professional football was a deft flick in a 3-2 EFL Cup defeat at Southampton, and he has remained a constant in the Potters' backline over the last few months since Mark Robins' arrival, with starts in each of the last 13 league outings.

Stoke have struggled this season, but their defensive record is still not one of the worst in the league, and the 19-year-old has been a clear reason for that, alongside Viktor Johansson's outstanding goalkeeping. Reports emerged in January that Spurs were considering recalling him to their squad amid an injury crisis, but their eventual decision not to came as a huge relief to Potters supporters.

Phillips' teammates have also recognised his obvious quality. Centre-back partner Rose has insisted that he has "huge potential," while standout keeper Johansson believes that he has "every attribute you could want a centre-half to have."

It would be a real coup for Stoke if they were to sign him full-time this summer, but Spurs' reluctance to recall him over the winter, as well as their likely aim to bolster their lacking defence with new signings ahead of next season, means that the Potters could have a genuine chance of a permanent move, albeit it would likely have to be a significant, £5 million-plus investment.

Following in the footsteps of a player like Shawcross is certainly a big ask for any Stoke defender, but there are clearly certain similarities with Phillips' current situation compared to his back in 2008, and the Potters will hope it could be a case of history repeating itself, where the 19-year-old joins full-time and then goes on to be a key player for the club over a number of seasons.