PHIL Parkinson vowed not to make the same mistakes he did last season if he delves into the free transfer market over the next few weeks.

Wanderers are checking out available free agents and have been strongly linked with ex-Derby County centre-back Raul Albentosa.

The Bolton News understands the 30-year-old is one of a handful of players who have been invited for trials, but that the prospect of a deal is still some way off.

Ken Anderson claimed after deadline day that the club would be hunting for a new striker – but after bringing in Nigeria international Chinedu Obasi on a free at this stage of last season, only for him to fail to make a single start as he struggled for fitness, Parkinson says he is being ultra-cautious this time around.

“There are one or two we’re looking into but they can’t be so far off the pace like we had last year with (Chinedu) Obasi. It can’t take two months to try and get a player fit,” he said of potential signings.

“We need to try and get someone out there who is going to hit the ground running – not necessarily go straight in the team but not be a million miles away."

Parkinson is looking to get more out of his existing squad after ending a long wait for a victory at Birmingham City on Tuesday night.

“The transfer window was a frustrating one but you look at Ipswich at the weekend, beaten at Norwich 3-0, they brought five or six new players in," he said. "We weren’t able to do that but we said all along that if we couldn’t we’d work with what we had and try to get more out of every single one of them. That’s where we are at this moment in time."

Meanwhile, Wanderers have stayed tight-lipped on rumours that the sale of the club has progressed in recent days.

Sources at the University of Bolton Stadium claim a Turkish consortium have joined the race to purchase Ken Anderson’s majority share and may now be close to reaching an agreement.

But two other bidders, both fronted by UK businessmen but backed by foreign cash, claim they are also in active talks with the Bolton owner.