Ramsey's second-half injury marred his side's 3-1 victory at Britannia Stadium, shocking everyone including Shawcross, who was sent off after his ferocious challenge.

"There was absolutely no malice in the challenge. I would never, ever go out to hurt a fellow professional," Shawcross told Stoke's website.

"I am deeply upset that Aaron has suffered such a bad injury and my thoughts are with him. I would like to send him my best wishes too for a speedy recovery."

Shawcross, who set up Danny Pugh with the Potters only goal, has been named in England's squad for Wednesday's friendly against Egypt.

Not Acceptable

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger voiced his dismay with the blow to Ramsey, the Gunners' third player to suffer a serious injury by an opponent in the space of four years.

"I am very proud of my team but very sad about what happened to Aaron Ramsey. We know it’s a bad injury. We have to transfer him to London tonight to see if he needs emergency surgery or not," he said after the game.

"The only thing is we do not know how long he will be out, but it is certainly long term.

"I’m not very happy with the tackle. I just want to say we know what we are expecting, a battle everywhere.

"But we have now lost three players—(Abou) Diaby, Eduardo and now Ramsey today, a boy of 19 years old to horrendous tackles.

"The first two were out for nine months to a year, and I don’t believe in coincidence when you suffer this as many times as we do.

"When you see a player get injured like he (Ramsey) did tonight, its not acceptable."

In 2006, Arsenal lost midfielder Diaby for almost a year following a tackle by Dan Smith, two years before Eduardo had suffered a horrific leg break at the hands of Birmingham's Martin Taylor.