Neil Lennon is facing up to his toughest summer in management.
After steering Bolton clear of relegation, they finished seventh bottom of the Championship, 10 points ahead of League One Millwall, the Irishman is expected to deliver a challenge for promotion next season.
As Celtic manager Lennon could attract players with the lure of the Champions League and a hefty wage rise as the club looked to Scandinavia and further afield for new recruits.
Bolton are still adjusting to life outside the Premier League with Lennon’s driving ambition the main attraction to bring players to Lancashire.
“I honestly don’t know what my budget will be,” he told the Bolton News. “That will always be dictated to by the contracts you hand out, who accepts them, and whether there will be any extra wages available.
“Some of those players might not be signing on the money they were on before but the offer is there.
“We have been working very hard identifying players. I’ve been to Norway and we’ve looked in Spain and in various grounds around England – people who may be out of contract and available on a Bosman.
“We clearly need to bring players in because I’ve been very frustrated with how many I have lost to injury this season. It is something we need to look at.”
Lennon added: “There are going to be changes, we need to make them if we are going to improve as a football club.
“We know what we have to do, we need to bring in players who are hungrier but also we need to get more out of the players who will stay with us.
“It is a huge challenge. Thankfully we kept our Championship position a few weeks ago but it’s been a disappointing season, no question about it.”