MATTEO Sereni will not return to Ipswich Town in the summer even if Brescia fail to take up the buying option on his loan deal.The Italian keeper has been told he is free to find another club in Italy when his loan deal with the Serie A side expires next month.

MATTEO Sereni will not return to Ipswich Town in the summer even if Brescia fail to take up the buying option on his loan deal, writes Derek Davis.

The Italian keeper has been told he is free to find another club in Italy when his loan deal with the Serie A side expires next month.

I understand his Italian agent is touting the former Sampdoria keeper around the country in case Brescia don't want to take up the offer of signing Sereni permanently.

Sereni still has two years of his Town contract remaining but getting him off the wage bill, even at a transfer loss, would be of great benefit to Ipswich, who are looking to come out of administration next month.

Ipswich accept they will have to take far less than the £4.8m deal they agreed with Sampdoria when they signed him in the summer of 2001 but even an offer of £1m could stretch Brescia.

At the same time Sereni has been invaluable to them since returning from a hip injury caused by a car crash last summer.

After being on the wrong end of a 4-0 thumping by Inter Milan in December in Sereni's comeback game, Brescia have gone unbeaten in their past 16 games. Sereni has kept 11 clean sheets in that run which has seen them surge away from near the relegation zone.

Sereni has made it clear he does not want to return to Ipswich and last month his wife Silvia told Italian journalists they had not enjoyed their English experience, saying it might have been different if he played for a big city club like Chelsea.

She also added she was confident Sereni would stay in Italy and had high hopes he could force his way into the national team.

The Italian moved to Ipswich after a recommendation to Town by England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, who had been his boss at Sampdoria.

Sereni revealed to the EADT last year that he had asked to be dropped for the FA Cup tie at Dagenham & Redbridge as he was tired and was surprised to find he had lost his place to Andy Marshall when the Premiership schedule resumed.

His relationship with former Blues boss George Burley became strained and he asked to be allowed to return to Italy and while a couple of clubs appeared interested, only Brescia agreed a loan deal for this season.