Boss Mick McCarthy was delighted to see Cole Skuse sign a new contract at Portman Road yesterday which will keep the midfielder at the club until the summer of 2020 with the Blues having an option to keep him for a further year.
"It is nice, for me, it is for the club and more importantly for Skusey,” he said. "He’s approaching 32, we’d got the option on him, of course, if the club wanted to keep him beyond this season.
"But it’s nice for him to get his future sorted out, where he’s going to be for the next two and a half years.
"It’s that bit of security for him and his wife and his kids and for the club actually because he’s been excellent. He’s been here coming up to five years and he’s pretty much been an ever-present. He’s a great example as well, on and off the pitch.
"And out in the community as well, just the type of bloke he is. Of course, the most important thing is always on the pitch, that 90 minutes.
"But I do think it’s important the type of people that you have in the place and he epitomises the type of people I would have always.”
Skuse has said he wants to get involved with coaching in the academy and McCarthy believes the Bristolian has an aptitude for that side of the game.
"He’s very considered in his approach to things, he’s very thorough, he’s very professional,” the Blues manager reflected.
"He understands the game. When you talk to him you get an opinion from him that I would value as well, not a yes or a no or a nod or unsure not wanting to talk to the boss.
"I’m sure he will and I hope it’s here because we’ve a lot of the ex-players here and he would be somebody that I’m sure will be of great use to the club, his longevity as a player and as a coach further down the line.”
McCarthy says Skuse is OK for Saturday’s match against Burton Albion at Portman Road, despite having been nursing an ankle problem in recent weeks.
"It’s not his fitness, but he gets clumped on that ankle every time,” he added. "You know how good he is at nicking things off people and, of course, they go to kick the ball, he’s nicked it and they kick his ankle, and he’s just had a few kicks on it. But he’s OK, he’s fit, he’s trained this week.”
Meanwhile, McCarthy says Bartosz Bialkowski is close to putting pen to paper on the contract he agreed last month.
"He’s going to sign that, there was nothing wrong with the contract, it was just getting it done and getting the agent down and signing it up,” he said.