PHIL Parkinson says he will be casting his eye over “one or two” free agents in the next couple of days as he plans to expand his Wanderers squad.

Joey O’Brien continues to train with the first team, who return to Lostock this morning to prepare for the crunch home clash with Brentford.

The 31-year-old former Ireland international played 45 minutes for the development squad on Monday night and looks a good bet to earn a permanent contract.

Parkinson has revealed, however, that other options are being considered with some new faces expected at the training ground this morning.

“There are players out of contract who are looking for offers and we’re going through that list and speaking to a few of them,” he told The Bolton News.

“We only want to bring someone in who’ll improve us – I know that is an obvious statement to make – but we have got a lot of games coming up so it might not be a bad thing to have a couple of extra bodies around if we can.

“We have had players in on trial and been looking around but there’s only a very small group in that pot and a lot of them haven’t done any training at all.

“We have got to weigh it up; If I bring someone in and it takes three or four weeks to get them fit, by then we’ll have Josh Vela back and you’d have to question whether it is actually worth it.

“It has got to be someone who’s right. There will be one or two with us over the next few days.”

Wanderers have passed on the opportunity to sign ex-Arsenal and Real Madrid star Julio Baptista but Parkinson is keeping his options open about possible signings, which would still need ratification from the EFL.

“There are two types of player out there – ones who have just not had an offer, and ones who want £20-25,000 a week who are completely out of our price bracket but they are holding out for that kind of offer,” he said.

“We will keep searching for the right ones. We have had players in – some fans have heard about in the press, some they haven’t – and we’ll continue to do that.

“The staff are determined to get going in the league, starting Saturday against Brentford.

“If I thought we were miles off I’d say so. I wouldn’t try and paper over the cracks. But I genuinely think there’s enough quality in this team to push on.”