Arabian Gulf League yo-yo side Ittihad Kalba have completed their foreign quota with the additions of Spanish playmaker Carmelo Gonzalez and Iraq veteran Salam Shaker.

The double deals for Suphanburi’s Gonzalez, 32, and Al Fateh’s Shaker, 29, were announced early yesterday morning as the newlypromoted Tigers added them to the previous acquisition of Burkina Faso striker Yahia Kebe.

Of the four-player non-Emirati group which helped the club finish second in the 2015/16 First Division League, only 17-goal Romanian forward Mihai Costea has been retained by coach Mourad Okbi. Kalba are attempting to arrest a pattern which has seen them instantly bounce between the top two divisions since a fine 2009/10 campaign saw them win promotion to the AGL for the first time during the professional era.

To do this, the onus will now be on their key buys. Shaker will be expected to add grit and class to an-already strong backline which conceded just 17 times in 16 second division games last term. The recently-retired, 93-cap centre-back arrives after a one-season spell in Saudi Arabia.

In attack, Gonzalez will join up with deadly Costea. The well-travelled Las Palmas youth product comes to the UAE after a three-and- a-half-year spell in the Thai Premier League, in which he scored 46 goals in 81 games at Buriram United and Suphanburi.

Kebe represents the star purchase. His 18 strikes for struggling Al Kharitiyath in last term’s Qatar Stars League made the difference in them staying up on goal difference ahead of Qatar SC.

Domestically, the only transfers Kalba have secured are the purchases of Ajman’s midfield pair of Mohammed Al Khdeim and Hamad Al Hosani.