Griffiths, 30, is wanted back in China by Beijing Guoan after his successful loan spell in 2009. The striker's agent John Denison believes he has paperwork that shows both parties agreed to a $350,000 buyout clause, after an  initial fee of $1m was reduced.

However the Jets want their marquee man to stay and play games at the back end of this season - the number depending on the fortunes of the side but it could be as little as three games.

The problem is, Beijing want to register the player ahead of the 2010 ACL registration cut-off date of January 11, and so need to have him signed up in the next seven days.

The Chinese club has been drawn in a difficult group that includes Melbourne Victory, South Korea's Seongnam and J-League power Kawasaki Frontale.

Denison feels that with an agreement in principal already signed off in late December for the $350,000 buyout transfer, the deal he says had no timing restrictions on it. 

Denison says the money was agreed to be paid before the Jets "moved the goalposts" by stating they want the player for a small number of games in the A-League later this month (following a ban sanctioned by the Chinese FA from last season which has controversially carried over into the A-League).

With an independent arbitrator now brought in by the PFA to urgently fix the situation, it's a mess that needs fixing for all parties concerned.

"We believe we have a position that we've fulfilled the offer [from Beijing] for the request from Newcastle for the $350,000," Denision told au.fourfourtwo.com today.

"The club has now put an extra clause in the agreement saying the player has to complete his season with Newcastle before he can take up his contract with Beijing.

"If he completes his Newcastle contract, he won't be able to register for the ACL. For three games, forget about it."

And he had some blunt advice to the Jets: "Take your money, you've got the money you wanted and let the player go."

For Socceroo hopeful Griffiths, the looming problem is that Beijing won't take up the deal if they can't register him for the ACL, says Denison. 

If so, and the deal falls through, the player might be left club-less in the lead up to the World Cup and any lingering hopes of a South Africa berth would be sunk.

Griffiths failed to report to successive Jets training sessions on the weekend despite having resumed his contract with the club on January 1.

Jets director of football Remo Nogarotto is not impressed and said the player was potentially in breach of his contract - further muddying the already messy situation.

"He is in breach and potentially in continual breach until such time as he turns up for training," Nogarotto told The Newcastle Herald. "What we will do in response to that, I'm not 100 per cent certain.

"It's not our intention to go to war with a player, particularly a player who has given us the level of service that Joel has. However, having said that, a player by his actions cannot hold a club to ransom.

"I would have thought the sensible and professional thing to do would have been to fulfil his contractual obligations, train and work behind the scenes towards a resolution of this transfer.

"This sort of behaviour would be largely intolerable anywhere else in the world."

Denision responded by saying Griffiths hadn't "spat the dummy" regarding training. He said they'd taken advice on it.

"The advice was not to go training because as far as we're concerned, the paperwork we'd seen was that you're a Beijing player pending the paperwork."

Nogarotto refused to be drawn on what disciplinary measures the club would take against Griffiths.

"I do not want to even go down that path," he said. "Presumably the game plan of Joel's management and the Chinese club is to create enough turmoil that we capitulate.

"Anyone who knows Con Constantine knows he is not one for blinking in a hurry."

But Denison admitted the saga is frustrating for all parties - and particularly so for the former A-League player of the year.

He added:  "Joel's frustrated and he just wants this to finish. He feels like he's been pulled from pillar to post."