Stoke: Ba Bye Demba

It seems as though the move to sign Hoffenheim striker Demba Ba has fallen through after he failed his medical.

It looked like the deal to sign the Senegalese forward was all agreed with £5.9m on the table, but yesterday's medical appears to have thrown up some problems which has given the Potters second thoughts.

The door has not slammed completely shut with Stoke offering to take Ba on loan, but it looks increasingly unlikely that the German club will take up the offer unless no further bids come in before the end of the month.

TP is obviously upset with the news that the medics have scuppered the deal. He told the official site: 'It's desperately disappointing because the lad has a tremendous goalscoring record. We have been over to watch him three or four times and everyone has come back with good reports,' said Pulis. 'But it's important that we put the club first.

'As we've progressed as a Football Club, so the medical side has progressed as well. Unfortunately though, something has come up in his medical and we cannot afford to take any risks when you are talking about spending a large sum of money.'

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