Demba Ba ended up joining West Ham United in January 2011 after the Potters pulled out of a deal
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Demba Ba has told FourFourTwo why he was glad a move to Stoke City fell through.
After Hoffenheim took the Bundesliga by storm under Ralf Rangnick, several of their best players attracted interest from bigger clubs. Luis Gustavo's move Bayern Munich in January 2011 was a major blow and Demba Ba looked set to depart that same month.
Several Premier League clubs were monitoring his situation and Stoke City seemed to have won the race to sign him until the move unexpectedly fell apart. In an interview with FFT, Ba admitted that he was pleased the deal didn't go through because he didn't want to join the Potters.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
"I was actually about to sign for West Ham, but Hoffenheim’s sporting director started speaking to a number of other teams, which I didn’t appreciate. He ended up receiving an offer from Stoke that doubled the one from West Ham," explains Ba.
"We agreed everything with Stoke but it wasn’t really the place I wanted to be, so I was happy when they told me I’d failed my medical.
"A week later, I signed for West Ham. They introduced me to English football and I’ll always be grateful to them."
Stoke's concerns about the state of Ba's knee turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the striker, who got his preferred move as a result.
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(Image credit: Getty Images)
Ba impressed during a brief but productive stint at West Ham, scoring seven goals in 12 games, including one against Tony Pulis' side.
Although his efforts weren't enough to save the Hammers from relegation, he'd proven that he could thrive in English football.
Signed by Newcastle United that summer, Ba showed his best form at the club, netting 16 goals in his first season.
After leaving Chelsea in 2014, the Senegalese international had spells in Turkey, China and Switzerland before retiring.
Sean Cole is a freelance journalist. He has written for FourFourTwo, BBC Sport and When Saturday Comes among others. A Birmingham City supporter and staunch Nikola Zigic advocate, he once scored a hat-trick at St. Andrew’s (in a half-time game). He also has far too many football shirts and spends far too much time reading the Wikipedia pages of obscure players.
