Matteo Sereni's former club Sampdoria have claimed that the Town keeper demanded a £3 million pay-off before he would agree to join Town. The Italian has denied the claims, made at a financial meeting at the Genoa club on Friday.

Sampdoria owner Enrico Mantovani says Sereni was not keen on a move to Portman Road, but changed his mind when he was offered the large cash settlement. Mantovani said: "We needed to sell Sereni, but he didn't agree immediately to go to England. He wanted money from Ipswich to play in Premier League. But Ipswich refused, so Sampdoria promised £2-3 million."

The Town keeper's lawyer, Stefano Piovani, denied the claims on behalf of his client: "That Sereni refused to go to Ipswich is not true. He thought leaving Italy could damage his career. So he wanted to go to another Italian club even if that meant earning less money than at Sampdoria, where he still had three years left on a contract worth £5 million. But Sampdoria insisted he went to Ipswich and offered him a sum of money. Sereni accepted because he was forced to by Enrico Mantovani."

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