WANDERERS won’t be talking about new contracts this summer despite having 10 first teamers coming into the final year of their current deal with the club.

Nathan Baxter, Ricardo Santos, Josh Dacres-Cogley, Randell Williams, Josh Sheehan, Gethin Jones, Joel Coleman, Jack Iredale, Luke Matheson and Luke Hutchinson could theoretically all walk away for nothing in 12 months’ time.

But Ian Evatt has warned every player that they must earn an opportunity to renegotiate terms in the coming months as the Whites seek to climb out of League One at the fourth attempt.

The Bolton boss has talked about stepping up his recruitment in the coming days with a few signings getting closer to completion – and has not ruled out the possibility of player exits before the start of the season if some of his side feel they are not going to get enough first team football.

“We have always been pretty clear that every player has a price and if someone comes to make us an offer for any player then we will look at it and see if it is right for us,” he told The Bolton News.

“Are we going to be giving out new contracts right now? Absolutely not. I think those contracts need to be earned, we need to see where we are at, and the players are probably the same. There are players in there who think they should be playing in the Championship and aren’t at the moment.

“This is just a season where we forget about individuals, personal circumstance, and together we do all we can to give it our best shot. That’s where we are at the moment.”

Wanderers have made three new signings so far – Klaidi Lolos from Crawley Town, Chris Forino from Wycombe and Luke Southwood from Cheltenham.

The latter made it three senior keepers and academy product Luke Hutchinson all competing for one spot in the team, but Evatt has now confirmed than Nathan Baxter is currently in line to start as his first choice.

“Nathan is here and at the moment it’s Nathan’s shirt, there’s no denying that,” he said.

“Luke (Southwood) has come in and wants to fight for it. That is healthy.

“We want to make the squad really competitive and improve it from where it was last year.

“We still have Joel Coleman, who will fight as well, young Luke Hutchinson, who is developing all the time.

“The goalkeeping department looks in a really good place and what we’re trying to do through the whole squad is make sure we have strength in depth along with players who can make a real splash in that starting XI.

“There are a lot of things going on at the moment behind the scenes, a lot of discussions, and hopefully we should see some of them come to fruition pretty soon.”

Wanderers have also confirmed that their Carabao Cup first round game at home to Mansfield Town will take place on Tuesday, August 13 (kick-off 7.45pm).

Tickets are now on sale costing £10 for adults and £5 for concessions.