Eintracht Frankfurt sporting director Fredi Bobic called Marco Fabian's collapsed transfer to Fenerbahce a "disgrace" and rejected the idea he could no longer play following back surgery in 2017.
Fabian, 29, was deemed surplus to requirements at Frankfurt last week, and going into the final year of his contract, the club hoped to offload him to Fenerbahce.
The midfielder arrived in Turkey to complete the transfer on Sunday, but following the medical, Fenerbahce backed away from the deal and it collapsed.
"The lad's portrayed like someone who can no longer play football," Bobic told radio station FFH. "That's not fair, and to put it plainly, that's a disgrace. We must reject it."
Fabian underwent back surgery in August 2017, but he returned to action earlier this year and also represented Mexico at the World Cup.
After the transfer fell apart, Fabian retweeted Mexican journalist Valeria Marin, who wrote on Twitter that the player "travelled to Turkey to take the medical exams that he passed."
"However, the executive wanted to make some last-minute changes to the contract" that Fabian did not agree with.