Stoke manager Tony Pulis revealed after Saturday's 2-0 win over Bolton that the club could sign Hoffenheim striker Demba Ba - on loan.
Stoke agreed a fee believed to be £7.1million to sign the Senegal striker but, after the 25-year-old agreed personal terms, he failed a medical.
Ba, who needed knee surgery last summer, had now returned to Germany and Pulis admitted his disappointment that a permanent deal could not be completed.
He 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, admitted the deal may still be on - if Ba's problem is not too serious and providing Hoffenheim are willing to loan the striker initially.
"It might be. You don't know, " Pulis 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."
Pulis was delighted with the manner of the victory which came thanks to goals from Danny Higginbotham and Matthew Etherington (penalty) either side of half time.
Higginbotham scored at the back post following a corner, while Etherington extended their lead with a spot kick after being tripped by Zat Knight.
Pulis said: "We enjoy what we do and the players work tremendously hard. It was a big game for us today and very pleasing.
"I was really pleased with that performance.There are a lot people looking over their shoulders this year. It is such an unusual table, not just at the bottom but the top as well."
Bolton boss Owen Coyle rounded on Knight for flooring Etherington, which effectively put the match out of sight.
Coyle said: "It was a poor penalty for us to give away. Zat Knight has been outstanding but he knows he should have stayed up.
"Etherington was on his weaker foot and sometimes you have to recognise these situations. Jussi (Jaaskelainen) nearly saved the penalty but we found ourselves 2-0 down.
"We kept going forward and getting in dangerous positions but their keeper made a couple of good saves and we couldn't get that elusive goal to get us back in the game.
"We were very poor in the first half and I expected a lot better from what I saw. We never got going at all if truth be told. There were fleeting glimpses but we never passed the ball.
"In the second half we were much better and we looked the team in the ascendancy. We passed and moved the ball a lot better but we got caught on the counter attack."
