Meteb looked certain to join City after the Championship side agreed a £1.5 million fee with Ahli to sign him.

But City opted against wrapping up the deal following Meteb's participation in Ahli's 2-1 Champions League victory over Zamalek last week.

They were infuriated by the 25-year-old's decision to play the match without their permission.

Ahli insisted they had the right to field Meteb, given that his contract with City was set to take effect following the Red Devils' African encounter against Zamalek.

However, Johnson insisted Ahli and Meteb were to blame for the impasse.

"I know the lad is very disappointed by it all and so is his club," he told City official website.

"But they did what they did and there were a few more reasons that we won't go into publicly.

"We had to make the right decision for this football club. One and a half million pounds is a lot for this football club, with a good contract for the lad.

"We had to make sure it was the right decision," the 52-year-old coach added.

Dead Deal

Johnson refused to assert that Meteb had no chance of joining his side.

"There's people saying it's off and people saying it's on. I'm sure we will be signing two strikers very early next week."

Johnson revealed that Meteb was not one of those strikers.

However, even if City were to renew their interest, Meteb recently said he decided to stay at Ahli.