Graeme Souness has emerged as a new front-runner for the vacant manager's job at Bolton Wanderers.

The former Liverpool, Blackburn and Newcastle boss is now considered a likely candidate to succeed Sammy Lee, if Reebok chairman Phil Gartside is unwilling to pay the £1million it could cost to lure either Chris Coleman from Real Sociedad or Leicester's Gary Megson.

Megson is believed to be Gartside's first choice but, if he continues to pursue the former West Brom and Nottingham Forest manager, he could find himself on an expensive collision course with Leicester chairman, Milan Mandaric.

For, although Megson has not signed the three-year contract he agreed five weeks ago when he took over at the Walkers Stadium following Martin Allen's sacking, the Foxes' supremo insists he has a "legally binding" agreement and has angrily threatened to hit Wanderers with an illegal approach charge, unless his club is compensated to the tune of £1m.

Mandaric held showdown talks with Megson yesterday, when he made it clear he was unwilling to let his manager go without a fight.

Meanwhile, sources close to Steve Bruce claim the Birmingham City manager is keen on the Bolton job, despite his St Andrews bosses flatly rejecting Wanderers' request to speak to him.

Bruce fears his future at the Midlands club could be affected by the pending takeover by Hong Kong businessman, Carson Yeung.

Wanderers are refusing to comment on any of the reports linking them with a variety of managerial targets, but they are known to have been dealing with Mark Curtis since Lee's departure, and are rumoured to have spoken to both Souness and Coleman, the former Fulham manager. Coleman admits he would welcome a return to the Premiership, but says he has received no offer.

"I signed a three-year contract with La Real," he said after Sociedad's 1-0 home defeat by Sporting Gijon on Saturday.

"I said all along that the thing that would tempt me away from La Real would be the Premier League. But Bolton have to ask me to go to Bolton.

"This hasn't happened and Le Real have to say OK, you can leave', and this hasn't happened."

Sociedad are understood to be willing to talk to Wanderers but, like Leicester, are looking for around £1m in compensation.

Hibernian manager John Collins is believed to be another talented young manager on Wanderers' radar, but the Scot recently rejected an approach from QPR saying: "My contract covers the rest of this season and the following year. I have never broken a contract during my playing career and I've no intention of doing so now."

Whoever they have in their sights it would appear that one-time hot favourite, Paul Jewell, is no longer in the frame.

The former Wigan Athletic manager is believed to have told Wanderers he is not interested in the job.

There is no doubt that Souness is now high on the list of possibles and, unless Gartside has any joy in pushing for the release of Megson or Coleman, he could be installed before Thursday's UEFA Cup clash with Portuguese side, SC Braga, at the Reebok.

The 54-year-old Scot is certainly not lacking in experience, having started his managerial career at Rangers in 1986 and taking in spells at Liverpool, Galatasaray, Southampton, Torino, Benfica, and Blackburn. But he has been off the management scene since leaving Newcastle in February 2006 after a turbulent 18 months on Tyneside.

The players, meanwhile, are anxious to see the situation sorted out but say it is more important to get the right man rather than rush an appointment.

"It's not our decision," Kevin Davies said after Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Arsenal left Wanderers bottom of the Premier League with just five points from their first 10 games.

"It's up to the chairman to make the right decision and, obviously, we need to get the right man in now and get ourselves out of this mess.

"We've got to stop talking about it and start doing it on the pitch.

"Hopefully we will get someone in quickly because we have some big games coming up, but it's got to be the right decision."