Town boss Joe Royle was willing to let the Finnish international striker leave the club on a free transfer for a move to South Korea allowing him to bring a new striker to the club in his place.
However Kuqi rejected that move, confessing that he wants to stay at Ipswich: "A Korean club did come in for me but I did not want to go. It is not the right time for me at all." he told the East Anglian Daily Times
"We are settled in England and I did not want to uproot and have to learn yet another new culture and new languages and everything. I feel I had a good season last year with 18 goals for Ipswich and Wednesday so I have a lot to give and want to do even better this season."
Whilst Royle admitted that he had been disappointed with Shefki's peformances towards the end of last season: "It was an opportunity which arose and I told Shefki about it, but he turned it down as he wants to fight for a place here, and that is up to him.
"Equally, I have told him that I want to bring in another forward. Shefki started amazingly well for us but tailed off a bit. If he gets back to that early-season form last year then that would be terrific."