<!--Article Start--> <h3 style="text-align: justify"><strong>Stoke City captain Ryan Shawcross is to undergo surgery on his back and will be sidelined for at least two months, the Premier League club announced on Thursday.</strong></h3> <p style="text-align: justify">The 27-year-old centre-back, a first-team stalwart since he signed from Manchester United in August 2007, struggled with a back problem last season and will go under the knife next week.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">"The club had hoped surgery would not be necessary and that the summer break would provide a solution," read a statement on the Stoke website.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">"That initially appeared to be the case, but the harder Shawcross pushed himself in pre-season the more discomfort he found himself in, leaving no alternative but for him to undergo the operation."</p> <p style="text-align: justify">Stoke have finished ninth in the Premier League for the past two seasons and launch their 2015-16 campaign at home to Liverpool on Sunday.</p> <p style="text-align: justify"><strong>By AFP</strong> . </p> <!--Article End-->