Stoke City boss Tony Pulis is upset their deal for Hoffenheim striker Demba Ba has collapsed.
Ba has seen the move fall through due to a failed medical.
Speaking after the 2-0 victory against Bolton, Pulis said: "I am desperately disappointed. You look at him and he has a tremendous scoring record.
"We have been over to watch him three or four times. Everyone has come back with good reports. But we have to put the club first and I understand that.
"As we have progressed as a club, the medical side has progressed as well. They take great responsibility and great care when they look at the players we are trying to bring in. The money involved is huge. Obviously they found something which could cause problems later."
Pulis, however, hinted the deal could still be resurrected.
"It might be. You don't know," he said. "The deal we agreed was a great one for the club. It was within our budget, which was really important.
"There was no way we were going to break the budget, especially on wages and length of contracts. We keep that as tight as we can.
"The chairman (Peter Coates) has decided this is the way we are going to work this club and he fell within all the limits.
"There was no problem with the negotiations and the kid wanted to come to Stoke which was brilliant."