MATTEO Sereni will decide this weekend whether to accept a 50% pay cut to make his dream of returning to Italy come true, writes Derek Davis.The Ipswich Town keeper is due to have a medical and discuss personal terms with Serie A side Lazio today after flying to Rome last night.

MATTEO Sereni will decide this weekend whether to accept a 50% pay cut to make his dream of returning to Italy come true, writes Derek Davis.

The Ipswich Town keeper is due to have a medical and discuss personal terms with Serie A side Lazio today after flying to Rome last night.

The EADT exclusively revealed on Wednesday that the clubs were close to agreeing a deal and chief executive Derek Bowden last night confirmed talks were still being held.

He said: "The club and Matteo's representative are involved in ongoing negotiations with Lazio."

The move was being complicated by the use of two agents, one by Ipswich and Sereni's personal representative.

Town have held out for cash for the move but Sereni's agent was hoping to secure a free transfer, thus ensuring the player was paid higher wages and he secured higher commission.

Italian agents are quite often paid one third of a players' wages over the length of his contract rather than a percentage of a transfer fee.

Sereni is desperate for a move but knows a 50% cut in his salary would leave him with £10,000-a-week, rather than the £30,000-a-week he is currently on before paying his agent's fees.

But he is also keen to go back to Italy, where his wife Sylvia and two-year-old son Simone are living.

He told me: "It is my dream to be back playing in Serie A but at the moment it is a nightmare for me.

"I want to go back but Italian clubs have no money and it is the same with Lazio.

"They want me to take a 50% cut in wages so it is not easy for me. If nothing is agreed then I will be back on Monday."

Until the transfer is resolved Blues boss Joe Royle can not make a move for a new keeper. Although he has a 'very short' short-list nothing has yet been arranged and teenager Lewis Price is the one keeper travelling with the 19-man squad to Scandinavia in midweek.

Andy Marshall will be back at Portman Road this week with Coventry City the latest club to be linked with the free transfer-listed keeper.

Stoke City have already made an inquiry about Marshall and it is believed at least one Premiership club is tracking him, but I understand it is not Portsmouth as widely reported.