Ian Evatt is hopeful of having two new players in the building at Bolton Wanderers for next weekend's clash against Shrewsbury Town.
Wanderers have strengthened with four new players so far this January transfer window and work is going on to bring in more.
Aaron Morley and Dion Chalres have been brought in on a permanent basis from Rochdale and Accrington Stanley respectively.
READ MORE: What Manchester City's Pep Guardiola has said about new Bolton Wanderers loanee James Trafford
Fulham defender Marlon Fossey and Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford have both joined on loan until the end of the season.
But Evatt is pressing on with adding reinforcements to the Wanderers squad and hopes to have a couple of fresh faces in by the time his side travels to take on Salop next weekend with Evatt confirming a bid is in for a player and that work is taking place on bringing in a new striker.
The aforementioned bid is a second one for a player, believed to be Gillingham midfielder and captain Kyle Dempsey, who is out of contract at Priestfield in the summer and who Bolton have been linked with.
Wanderers are also working on bringing in an experienced striker who is currently away on international duty and has a large pay packet at his current club, which adds complexity to the deal.
Though the duo will not be in the building for tomorrow's clash against Ispwich Town, Evatt is hopeful that deals can be done in time for next weekend's League One clash in Shropshire.
Though he did not specifically name Dempsey, Evatt told the Manchester Evening News on Thursday: “One we have made an offer for, it has been in for 24 hours now and we haven’t heard anything back.
"I am taking it as good news because the first one was rejected out of sight. No news is good news and hopefully they are having a good think about it.
“The second one, he’s away on international camp at the moment and we’re trying our best to get it done. It is complicated because he is on a pretty big salary with his parent club.
“Do I think they will be done this weekend? No. Next? Hopefully.”
Wanderers are poised to be without attacker Elias Kachunga for up to 12 weeks after the former Huddersfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday man suffered a torn thigh.
With the mid-season transfer window now approaching the halfway point, Evatt says this has changed his plans to a slight extent.
But he explained the pitfalls Wanderers are encountering with other teams wanting to hang on to players due to the uncertain situation surrounding Covid and that a player targeted over the summer and who Wanderers discovered was available saw their efforts fall to the wayside once their interest resurfaced.
He said: “It has slightly. One player we wanted from August and tried to get again at the start of this window was told he was available, available, available, then Bolton want you, then you’re not available. That happens, sometimes.
“With the Covid situation clubs are trying to hang on to their squad depth in case the worst happens and they need to change things around.
“The two we are trying to bring in now hopefully won’t suffer for that and we can get them in the building to make us better."
