Bristol City midfielders Cole Skuse and Ivan Sproule have been offered new deals to stay at Ashton Gate.

The midfield duo are currently considering the offers as City boss Gary Johnson continues building his squad for a sustained assault on the Championship top six next season.

Versatile Bristolian Skuse, 23, came through the ranks at Ashton Gate and has made over 160 appearances since being handed a debut by former manager Brian Tinnion four years ago.

"There is something a bit special about investing in young players and watching them come through into your first team," said City chairman Steve Lansdown.

"Cole falls into that category and is a player who has made good progress at Championship level. He did particularly well in the latter part of last season and has been rewarded for that with the offer of a new contract."

Skuse is understood to have been offered a two-year deal after recent speculation linking the midfielder with moves to Premier League Stoke City and recently relegated West Bromwich Albion.

"When you have good players, speculation about them is par for the course and never goes away," Lansdown added.

"We have a good relationship with our players and are always honest and open with them. We can do nothing about speculation, but what we can do is make sure that we work towards having the right players in terms of strength and depth.

"We want to keep as many good players as we can to help them get better so that they can move the club forward and bring us success next year."

Northern Ireland international Sproule, 28, has featured over 80 times since agreeing a three-year deal when arriving from Scottish Premier League club Hibernian in the summer of 2007 for an undisclosed fee.

Sproule, who still has another year to run on his current deal, was in and out of the side towards the end of last season, but is understood to have been offered a 12-month extension to keep him at the club until 2011.

"Ivan is a very useful player to have in the squad," Lansdown said.

"He has showed on occasions what he can do because of his electric pace, which causes other teams problems. He gives us another option and always works very hard. He is a good person to have around the changing room and it is only right that we should look to keep these types of people at the club."