NEIL Lennon admits he will have to sell more players if he is to strengthen key positions before the start of the season.

Current cash flow problems at the Macron Stadium mean it has been slow going for the Wanderers boss as he attempts to overhaul the squad which finished a lowly 18th in the Championship last season.

Lennon has brought the wage bill down below £26million by moving on 16 players this summer – a drop of nearly 40 per cent on the total spent by the club when it dropped into the second tier three years ago.

But the Northern Irishman admits further cuts are necessary if he wants to add any more players to a squad that still looks painfully thin in some positions.

“If we’re going to bring someone in, it looks like there has to be someone going out. It’s a juggling act at the minute,” he told The Bolton News.

“It’s a source of frustration when you consider how much money I’ve saved since we came through the door but that’s just the reality of the situation.

“Unless that changes, we work within our limitations.”

Lennon remains confident he can add to his squad but looks like losing out on former Newcastle United defender Ryan Taylor.

Wanderers have made the 30-year-old an offer but it is understood it has been eclipsed by another Championship side.

Lennon remains optimistic he can bring in some fresh blood, even if it means shedding more of the players he inherited from Dougie Freedman last season.

“We’ve cleared quite a substantial amount of money off the wage bill so we are looking to improve the squad, but we have found it very difficult,” he said.

“Things won’t happen overnight and I’d tend to think there will be more business done between now and the start of the season, that things will probably hot up when we get back to England.

“We have our eye on one or two players and there may be a couple more players going out. Conor Wilkinson has already gone, Sanmi Odelusi has gone, and I think there will be more.

“We still need strengthening in one or two positions quite urgently, goalkeeper being one of them. We still have quite a bit of work to do.”

Lennon also spoke for the first time about rumours linking him with the Leicester City job – dismissing them out of hand.

“I’ve got nothing I can say, it’s speculation, and it’s easy linking me with the Leicester job being an ex-player,” he said.

“I think I’m one of about 27 that has been linked with the job over the last week, so it’s all I can say on it really.”