Town manager Joe Royle says that on loan Italian keeper Matteo Sereni will return to Town for pre-season training unless a satisfactory deal is done between now and early July. Sereni is keen to stay in Italy with either Brescia or former side Sampdoria while a French club are also interested in him.
TWTD reported earlier in the month that both Sereni and on loan French winger Ulrich Le Pen have been told to report along with the rest of the squad for the club's preparations for 2003/04 which start on July 2nd.
Royle says that Town will expect to see both of them despite neither fancying a move back to Suffolk: "If no deals have gone through before that date that suits both sides - and I mean both sides - I will welcome them both back.
"And if we're paying them, we will play them, provided I am satisfied that they warrant a place in my team.
"It is no secret that we would like to remove them from the wage bill, for obvious reasons. If they return it might not be the ideal situation, which is no slight on their ability."
The Blues' boss says he is aware that the players' agents will be trying to get them new clubs at as low a fee as possible, but says that Town will certainly be looking to recoup something on the £4.7 million splashed out on Sereni in August 2001: "It's all very well saying we can't afford Matteo Sereni, but we paid a lot of money for him and will be looking for something back.
"He has had a great year in Italy and I am sure he loves it there, but his contract is with Ipswich whether he likes it or not."
Sereni has been rated at £5.5 million by the Italian papers, impressed after he kept 13 clean sheets in 23 appearances this season. Town are very unlikely to get a fee anything like that, however if there are enough interested parties then a reasonable return may not be out of the question.
The main stumbling block hindering Sereni coming back to Town, aside from his and his wife's disinclination, is his £22,000-a-week wage which would certainly not help progress towards a total wage bill of £5 million as targeted by chairman David Sheepshanks. This season Brescia have paid his salary in full.
If no deal is done by pre-season then it seems more likely that a further loan spell would be on the cards for 2003/04.
Le Pen is interesting current loan side Strasbourg as well as Brittany club Guingamp. The former Lorient player said recently that he will make his decision on whether to stay with the Alsace side based on their choice of new manager. Last week they named Antoine Kombouaré as their new boss but Le Pen is yet to comment.
Guingamp recently offered Town's £1.4 million signing a contract. Strasbourg paid all but a small percentage of his wages this season, a salary which is not thought to be anywhere near the higher end of the Town pay scale.