Town defender Hermann Hreidarsson has turned down the chance to join West Bromwich Albion. Yesterday the two clubs agreed a fee of around £3.5 million, however, the Icelander does not want to move from the Suffolk area.
West Brom chief executive Brendan Batson revealed the news: "I spoke to Hermann this morning who told me he won't be coming.
"He has a young family and is settled in the area. He doesn't want to uproot them as his children are attending local schools and feels at this stage of his career it is best to stay at Ipswich."
Reports had suggested that wages could have been a problem, but Batson refutes this: "He has stressed it has nothing to do with personal terms - Hermann was flattered by our interest and what we had to offer.
"He met Gary Megson yesterday and was impressed with what he had to say.
"But he is also concerned about the possibility of relegation being as we are a new Premiership club.
"Having been through that a couple of times already, it is not something he would relish again.
"We would obviously have liked Hermann to join us but we have other targets and we will move on.
"We're determined to make our first season in the Premiership a success and we are working overtime to bring in new faces."
Although it is likely that Hreidarsson's decision to stay will be widely welcomed from a footballing point of view it should cause Town bosses a further headache as they seek to balance the books over the year ahead.