The 25-year-old striker signed a three-year deal with the Robins last week, completing a club record £1.5million switch to Ashton Gate from Al Ahly.

However, the transfer could be in doubt after Meteb turned out for his former club in the Cairo derby against Zamalek on Sunday and it is now unclear who owns the rights to the player.

In the wake of the controversy, Meteb's agent Nader Shawki has been quick to play down the misunderstanding and remains confident that he will be a Bristol City player when the Coca-Cola Championship season starts in little over two week's time.

"A misunderstanding made us believe that Emad's participation in the game was fully acknowledged by Bristol," Shawki told Egyptian football website FilGoal.com.

"Bristol's representative, Mohamed Hamid, informed us that there would be no problem if Meteb played his last game.

"But then we were surprised to learn the frustration of Bristol officials to the extent that the transfer could be cancelled.

"I have already spoken to (City manager) Gary Johnson and I hope we can resolve the problem because Emad didn't mean any disrespect to the English club."