Wanderers are to face Premier League and top-flight European opposition this summer in back-to-back home friendlies to launch the new season.

Ian Evatt’s team will christen the soon-to-be-rebranded Toughsheet Community Stadium with a pair of games against pedigree teams at the end of July.

Stoke City were the last Premier League side to play a pre-season friendly against the Whites, claiming a 2-1 win against Phil Parkinson’s Bolton team in July 2017.

Although the season will only conclude this Bank Holiday Weekend with the play-offs, Evatt and his staff are already working towards the players’ return in June for fitness testing.

A full friendly schedule is soon to be announced by the club, who after returning on June 17 last year also embarked on a warm-weather training camp on the Algarve.

The names of the teams are - for now - a closely guarded secret but Wanderers chief executive Neil Hart confirmed to The Bolton News: “I think it will be tremendously beneficial to bring in some good opposition and to see us up against them,” he said.

“Earlier this season it was great to have Aston Villa here in the Carabao Cup and to have that type of game here at the stadium is a real plus.

“We have a double header at the back end of July. One is Premier League opposition, the other top-tier foreign opposition. We hope fans will be excited by it.”

It is expected that Wanderers’ first team will play fewer games against non-league opposition this summer, with the B Team potentially fulfilling some of those annual obligations.

The EFL season is scheduled to begin on August 5, and it is hoped that facing top quality opponents will prove beneficial as Evatt and his side look to make a fast start to the new campaign.

Wanderers have traditionally faced European opposition on the eve of the new season, with names like Inter Milan, AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos, Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona B visiting the club in their own Premier League pomp.

Hart says some of the club’s commercial contacts have helped open up avenues this summer.

“Sometimes it is a case of just asking the question,” he said. “One of the benefits of working with Macron (Wanderers’ kit manufacturers) is that they have a European network, so they do an annual conference. I attended last July and was mixing with Sampdoria, Bologna, a couple of the Eredivisie clubs, Levante – none of these are the clubs we will be playing, mind – but it was very interesting comparing notes, speaking with different people and hearing new ideas.”