IAN Evatt admits some of his fringe players have already voiced a desire to play elsewhere in January.

The Wanderers boss will be juggling numbers this month as he looks to bring in at least four more signings to aid a promotion push.

He is, however, bound by a squad quota that limits him to 23 registered players aged over 21 at the start of the season.

Loaning players out without gaining a percentage of their wage will reduce what he has to spend on incoming deals – presenting a real conundrum in the coming weeks.

“In this market place, the way football is, clubs are not really spending too much money,” he said. “And we can’t just give them away for free because of the salary cap.

“It can’t be ‘go and play elsewhere but we’ll pay your wages’. We need to recoup as much as we can.

“They also love our training and what we do. They have been at other clubs and see how it compares here. They want to maintain their education here in midweek but go and play on a Saturday for another team. That is also tough to get teams to agree.

“Some of them want to go out and play but there are a lot of ifs, buts and maybes.”

Wanderers have found their preparations for this weekend’s game against Crawley severely hampered by the weather.

The Horwich area has been hit by a blanket of snow over the last couple of days and after seeing Tuesday night’s game against Morecambe postponed because of a Covid-19 outbreak in the opposition camp, the conditions have thrown up another challenge.

Bolton do have an indoor ‘bubble’ which can be used for certain training sessions – but Evatt is reluctant to risk injuries on the synthetic surface so close to the game.

“Yes, the weather Gods have not been kind to us,” Evatt said. “Some might argue that the postponed game was a blessing in disguise – but the snow and ice since has made it very difficult to train properly.”