NEIL Lennon reckons ex-England striker Carlton Cole could be within Wanderers’ grasp in the near future.

The free agent is currently recovering from a calf injury sustained during a trial with Lennon’s former club Celtic but The Bolton News understands a decision on his future north of the border will be made in the next few days.

Sunderland, now managed by Cole’s former West Ham boss Sam Allardyce, have also been credited with an interest.

But Lennon admits the striker, who recently turned 32, would be a viable option for the Whites if his trial at Parkhead ends up fruitless.

“He’s a free agent and he’s a striker, so it’s definitely a possibility,” said the Wanderers boss. “We’re still looking to add one or two and it’s no secret that I want a centre forward.”

Lennon was less enthusiastic about his chances of tempting either Gary Hooper or Kyle Lafferty away from Norwich City on loan.

Despite rating both players highly, he believes they would be out of the club’s reach for the foreseeable future.

“You're going to be linked with a lot of strikers who aren't playing but with Premier League players it's down to finances whether we can do the deal or not.

“Kyle Lafferty may want to play at the highest level going into the Euros, so we haven't touched on that yet.

“We don't want to be talking about a player at another club or speculating about players. But you'll have to ask Kyle what he'll want to do and what his position is.

“I know he said he was aiming to fight for his place at Norwich, whether that's changed or not, I don't know.”

Lennon is happy to say, however, that one of his strikers does carry some good form into this afternoon’s game against Burnley at Turf Moor.

After a barren start to his Wanderers career Gary Madine has scored in his last two games and his confidence levels now appear sky high.

“I thought he was brilliant and led the line brilliantly at QPR,” Lennon enthused. “He scored good goals at QPR and Brighton and he's doing what we brought him into do now.

“Maybe that goal against Brighton has sparked something in him, but we always knew he could do it.

“His performance at QPR was excellent and that's a huge positive. He brings people into the game and gets on the end of things. He was a real handful for them and showed the reason why we brought him in.”