Already linked with a dozen different players by various media outlets and gossip websites, this promises to be a summer of change at the Toughsheet Stadium as the new head coach starts to reshape a squad that had been constructed to his predecessor’s liking.

Fergal Harkin’s appointment as sporting director and the impending addition of Schumacher’s trusted recruitment chief Jimmy Dickinson means that transfer business will not necessarily move in the same patters as it did with Ian Evatt and Chris Markham at the helm.

New markets have been opened up by Harkin’s European experiences and with Schumacher promising to play a more high-energy brand of attacking football – even the type of player being considered will be different this time around.

But where will Bolton look to strengthen? And in what positions are they already overstocked?

We decided to look at the squad in fine detail to see if we can decipher just how many new faces we could see before the window closes.

With Wanderers seeking a new loan goalkeeper - where does that leave Luke Southwood? (Image: CameraSport - Andrew Kearns)

GOALKEEEPERS

It has become quite clear in the past few weeks that Wanderers have made bringing in a new goalkeeper a priority after allowing Nathan Baxter and Joel Coleman to leave on a free transfer.

Interest in Chelsea’s Teddy Sharman-Lowe has been consistent, as has Crystal Palace’s Owen Goodman, with both players having excellent loan spells at League Two Doncaster Rovers and Wimbledon, respectively.

Where that leaves the two senior keepers still on the books is up for debate. Luke Hutchinson has been offered a new deal, but the club have, as yet, not confirmed that it has been signed. At 22, and with a few senior games now to his name, the homegrown keeper has progressed well over the last few years but is now at the stage where regular football is paramount.

Luke Southwood had a difficult last four months of the season, starting 10 of the 19 matches that Schumacher presided over and losing his place to Baxter, only to snatch it back again with two games to go.

The Northern Ireland international scrapped hard to get a reasonable share of the game time next season but if Bolton are looking down the Premier League loan route for a new keeper this summer, few of the best options will be happy to play second fiddle.

Lincoln City's Sean Roughan has been linked with a move to Wanderers (Image: PA)

FULL BACKS

Schumacher has dabbled with a back four, so will need to make sure he is stocked with defensive options. Josh Dacres-Cogley was the only senior specialist on the books last season but emergence of Sam Inwood and Max Conway’s return from a fine loan spell with Crewe gives the Bolton boss a little more scope this time around.

The Whites are still at least one light in this area, however, and Lincoln City’s Sean Roughan has been mentioned as a possible target – able to fill in either as a full-back or left-sided centre-half.

George Johnston played more minutes than anyone else at Bolton last season (Image: CameraSport - Stephanie Meek)

CENTRE-HALVES

The established hierarchy was broken last season and with Ricardo Santos and Gethin Jones moving on, we will now see whether Chris Forino, Will Forrester, George Johnston and Eoin Toal can handle the pace of a whole season.

Each has experienced their fair share of injury issues – although Johnston came back from a whole season out to play more minutes than anyone else in the squad, which is an achievement somewhat overlooked after a disappointing finale.

Inwood and Dacres-Cogley are both comfortable playing in a three and George Thomason even dropped back to offer some cover in an emergency.

If, as seems likely, Roughan is on Schumacher’s shopping list, then Bolton are well set for central defenders, just so long as they can all keep themselves available.

Tyreeq Bakinson is one of the midfield names linked with Bolton this summer (Image: PA)

CENTRAL MIDFIELDERS

Could be the most unpredictable department this summer, particularly if Schumacher is to undertake a major tactical makeover on the training ground through July.

Aaron Morley was one of last season’s rare success stories for the Whites but neither Josh Sheehan or George Thomason quite hit the same heights they managed 12 months earlier.

There are also question marks over Kyle Dempsey and whether he can push past the knee problem which wrecked last season, not to mention Carlos Mendes Gomes, who has suffered some horrendous luck in his time so far with the club.

Sonny Sharples-Ahmed showed promise but the fact that Wanderers have already been linked with a move for Tyreeq Bakinson and mentioned in despatches as one of the teams who courted Ryan Ledson before he signed for Huddersfield makes you think that there will be more additions in the middle of the park.

Szabi Schon, centre, has been pushed up from wing-back to winger under Schumacher (Image: CameraSport - Lee Parker)

WINGERS

Bolton tended to use their wing-backs for width during the Ian Evatt era but with wingers back on the menu, a challenge has opened up for the likes of Szabi Schon and Jordi Osei-Tutu to show they can provide the necessary penetration.

Wanderers do have attacking players who can drift wide – Aaron Collins to the left, John McAtee to the right, for example, but they have not had an out-and-out winger in some time. Youngster Daeshon Lawrence showed a few glimpses of promise when he was drafted in from the Under-18s but will most likely hone his game in the B Team for the time being.

Schumacher will need at least one, perhaps two more players who can really open up the pitch, attack with purpose and end product if his traditionally counter-punching style is going to jobs" target="_blank">work at the Toughsheet.

Joel Randall has played his best football as a number 10 at Exeter and Peterborough (Image: CameraSport - Lee Parker)

NUMBER TENS

Not an area of the squad where Wanderers lack options, and if Schumacher elects to play 4-2-3-1 or 3-4-2-1 next season, there is plenty of competition for the place behind the main striker.

Collins plays his better football as a supplementary front man and Randall’s most productive spells at Exeter City and Peterborough United were also in an advanced midfield position. Like Collins, John McAtee had to adjust last season, and Bolton fans have arguably not seen the best of him as a result.

Klaidi Lolos is another of last summer’s signings who struggled to find his exact niche, and has played in all the midfield and forward spots.

Throw into the mix that Morley, Dempsey, Thomason and Sheehan have all occasionally played further forward in their Bolton careers and you would think the stocks are full - but Walsall's Jamie Jellis has been checked out, and can play either as a number eight or 10.

Alassana Jatta scored 22 times for Notts County last season in all competitions (Image: PA)

STRIKERS

With Victor Adeboyejo injured until the end of the year, Dan Nlundulu stands as the only senior centre-forward left at the club. At this stage, it is difficult to see the former Southampton man getting himself back into the first team reckoning after a so-so spell with Cambridge United on loan, but stranger things have happened.

Lolos remains contracted, David Abimbola showed some promise and will be on hand as cover but Schumacher must surely find someone with the physicality his team badly needed at times who can anchor the front line and compete against some of the more imposing opponents this division has to offer.

Sam Dalby, who couldn't find a spot under Phil Parkinson at Wrexham but who did score goals in the SPL for Dundee United, is on the radar and recent reports are also linking Bolton with Alassana Jatta, who seems keen to leave Notts County in League Two.

Steven Schumacher has plenty of work to get through this summer (Image: CameraSport - Lee Parker)

VERDICT

A goalkeeper, a left-sided defender, a physical midfielder, at least two strikers and two wingers are our educated guess at the summer shopping list, totalling seven new players. But with Schumacher also indicating that players could be allowed to leave in the coming weeks, there could yet be time to add a couple more!