Argentine boss Calderon revealed that he was seeking to sign new expatriates in the past January transfer window, but the 'absurd price tags' prevented the Saudi giants from landing any.

Ittihad now have three foreign players in their ranks, including Meteb who has been struggling to score for a long while.

"Our frontline's wastefulness is a serious problem that has to be carefully addressed," Calderon told Saudi paper Al-Ryadi.

"Acquiring a marksman who's able to convert all chances would be the perfect remedy; otherwise we would have to wait till our youths grow up.

"It's a disadvantage that we can't deny; we wasted six opportunities in our clash against Hilal.

"Meteb went one-on-one with the keeper but couldn't slot home, like in many previous games."

Apart from his outfit's serious drawback, Calderon expressed his astonishment at Meteb's recurrent traveling to Egypt.

"We see Meteb at the airport quite often, he keeps flying to Egypt and getting back all the time," Calderon said.

"He doesn't appear on the pitch that much. I don't really know why he's on the move all the time."