THEY may share a combined age of 73, but do Emile Heskey and Eidur Gudjohnsen point the way forward for Neil Lennon’s Wanderers?

Much has been made of the Whites’ stately strikeforce since they combined for the first time in December to deadly effect against Blackburn Rovers.

Two globally-recognised names brought back a lot of the media attention which had slipped away during the club’s three-year exile in the Championship, and added to the excitement already being felt by the arrival of the new manager.

But to coin Lennon’s phrase at the time of signing them, this was “no gimmick” and the two players have played a big role in Wanderers' stabilisation in the last few months, on and off the field.

Lennon has had to manage Heskey’s troublesome hamstrings and has also lessened the workload placed on Gudjohnsen in a hectic league schedule.

Neither player is now able to play 40 games a season but Heskey’s return has been reasonable considering his injury lay-off at 11 appearances in league and cup, while Gudjohnsen’s has been impressive, having featured 18 times.

Lennon now faces a choice: Invest in keeping the two players for another 12 months, or look to replace them with younger, cheaper, perhaps more durable versions.

The manager said this week the door was certainly open for Gudjohnsen, who has Euro 2016 qualification on his mind with Iceland and may relish the chance to stay in the international fold with regular club football.

And he has equal trust in former team-mate Heskey, who exemplifies the kind of no-nonsense, reliable type he is looking for. The question is: Does the financial outlay substantiate the return?

There remain some fans yet to be convinced of Heskey’s value to the side, but then that is nothing new to a player who has been rather a divisive presence his whole career.

Be it Liverpool, Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic or even where it all began back at Leicester City, there have always been those waiting to take a pop at the former England international.

That was even the case on Saturday at Wigan despite Lennon going out of his way to praise the striker for not wasting possession on a difficult pitch.

“Heskey is showing everyone how to play centre-forward and he's 37. That is why he has been at the top for so long,” he said after the final whistle at the DW Stadium.

“Our play, apart from Heskey, going forward was not great. We looked very light.”

Heskey has always been relaxed when asked about his future, and like his manager is happy to leave any decision until the end of the season.

But the indications are that he is not ready to hang up his boots just yet and might well feel another 12 months trying to get Wanderers playing at the right end of the Championship would be a challenge worth taking on.

Speaking at the start of the year, Heskey did not seem to be contemplating retirement any time soon.

“I always had in the back of my mind that I could come back from Australia and play for a few more years,” he told The Bolton News.

“I look at what Lamps (Frank Lampard) is doing at Manchester City in the Premier League and also at Dwight Yorke – he was a similar age to me when he came back from Australia and then helped Sunderland get promotion.”

Gudjohnsen has had a similarly Laissez-faire attitude when asked if he had considered his future but the news Lennon was plotting talks this summer to extend his stay was met with a very positive reaction from fans on Tuesday.

Another important factor at play is the influence both players have had on the dressing room’s younger players – not least Zach Clough and Tom Walker. Few strikers boast the sort of combined CV of Heskey and Gudjohnsen, and Lennon has used their example to underline what he wants of the up-and-coming professionals at the club.

While the two standard bearers looked like short-term fixes on their arrival, Lennon might well question whether there is anything better out there with the cash he has at his disposal this summer.

With what in mind, there might be life in the old dogs yet.