THEY might not have made a big splash in the transfer pool this summer, but Gary Speed believes Wanderers have not been priced out of the trophy hunt.

When the window closed last night, it was estimated that Premiership clubs had spent a staggering £450million in an unprecedented trading frenzy.

Not surprisingly, it was one of the Big Four who led the way - Champions Manchester United spending £50m on Owen Hargreaves, Nani and Anderson to gear up for their title defence - but newly-promoted Sunderland weren't far behind.

When Roy Keane shelled out £9m this week on Southampton striker Kenwyne Jones and Derby defender Danny Higginbottom, he took his summer spending to a staggering £35million on 12 players.

Sammy Lee also landed 12 new signings but, with more than half being brought in on loans or frees, his total transfer outlay amounted to little more than £6m.

But Speed says that as no reason for anyone at the Reebok lower their sights.

The big-spenders might have raised the bar, but Lee's player-coach believes Wanderers can rise to the challenge.

"It's all about hard work, not just the players but everyone in the football club working hard and trying to achieve the same goal - to get Bolton Wanderers as high up that Premier League as possible and, maybe, bring some trophies here," Speed said.

"The Premier League is still the main aim and the target is to consolidate our position and the improve on it.

"It makes it even harder when you've got other clubs like Sunderland spending £30m, because we can't do that. That's why it needs everyone to work that much harder and be even more professional, to keep up with the clubs who have more money."

Wanderers might not have delivered an "impact" signing, but Thursday's revelation that Nicolas Anelka had shown his commitment by signing a new four-year contract and the fact the likes of El-Hadji Diouf, Kevin Nolan and Jussi Jaaskelainen are still on board, despite all the speculation to the contrary, suggests they can once again be challenging at the top end of the table.

Speed makes no outlandish claims; he accepts that Wanderers, by their sheer size, will again struggle to compete with the Premiership power players. But he has been a key figure in the success story of the past three years and believes that, if they can be more consistent and target the so-called "winnable" games, another top six challenge is not beyond them.

"I still think that, on our day, we can compete with the top clubs," he said, heartened by the victory over Reading after kicking off the season with three defeats.

"We've shown that in the past, but those days have to come more consistently.

"We know that nine times out of 10 when we play Manchester United, we'll probably get beat. It's not for the want of trying and, of course, there might be cases when we beat them.

"But they've spent £30 million on one player, and that shows the quality they've got.

"We can play the best we've ever played against Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea and still get beat. If Manchester United play the best they've ever played against us, they'll beat us.

"But, at the same time, there are lots of clubs in a similar situation to us and it's vital that we get the upper hand on them. They are the games we've got to make sure we win so that we stay ahead of them in the league.

"The games against Manchester United look after themselves. Everyone loves playing against the big teams and at the big stadiums.

"You don't need to motivate players for those games. It's the other games that will be the key."