Ryan Shawcross suffers from an anguish at the ankle in Stoke's last friendly

Ryan Shawcross was injured at an ankle because Stoke City's pre-season plans were in disarray.

The former English international Shawcross One Cap should not play again until 2020, after the terrible incident that left him screaming in pain.

The skipper of the Potters is away from the field on a stretcher after the incident, just one week before the start of the new championship campaign.

The former Manchester United defender, aged 31, received oxygen on the ground before being immediately taken to the hospital after undergoing more than eight minutes of treatment on field.

That could have been worse news for Potters boss Nathan Jones, who is preparing for his first full season at the helm of the North Staffordshire club.

Just seven days before the start of his campaign against QPR, he will be without the defender, who has been the mainstay since his arrival from Old Trafford in 2007.

After losing to Leicester, Jones said, "It's not an easy injury, it's not a two-week injury. It is something a little more serious.

"You can know when people are injured. Ryan has fallen and he is not one to do that. He raised his arm and you can say that it is serious.

"He's a warrior. He is a lion for this club and since his return he has been in incredible shape – the best people have seen him for years.

"It's so very disappointing for the club and, more importantly, for Ryan. He really wants to do well this year. It's sad.

"It would be wrong to speculate on what it is. He has x-rays and scans now. We do not know the full extent.

"Ironically, it's probably best to arrive now rather than two or three weeks later, but it's not good."

Six minutes before the break, Shawcross had managed to clear a ball from the sidelines under pressure from Fox midfielder Marc Albrighton, who was not close enough to the goal to take on a quality challenge.

At first glance, it seemed innocuous even though the Potters' goalkeeper, Jack Butland, had immediately intervened.

The television broadcasts showed that the middle half had caught his crampons in the grbad and that his body weight had forced his ankle to be forced into an unnatural angle.

Stoke 's anxious players immediately rushed in and the medical staff quickly arrived at the scene, providing oxygen to the cap before it was deported to the side of the field.

Stoke fans and players on both sides applauded as Shawcross held his head in his hands before raising an inch to thank his supporters.

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Shawcross, who was entering his 10th season as a Stoke captain, had started at the heart of the defense, alongside Danny Batth, in what was to be Jones' first center pair this month. .

At the end of the match, Yuri Tielemans gave the victory to Leicester, the Belgian being 2-1 to Foxes with six minutes to go after Nick Powell equalized earlier after the opening of the Marc Albrighton score.

Albrighton was the closest to the incident involving Shawcross and reported that his opponent initially feared the worst.

He said, "It's never nice to see a player fall like this. I did not really see it. I saw that he was suffering. Ryan said that he had heard a crack.

"I asked the Stoke medical team to send you my best wishes, but they did not know how bad it was. We will cross our fingers.