Bolton Wanderers have signalled an intent to cast their recruitment net further with the appointment of a new head of European scouting. Belgian Laurent D'Afnay is understood to have been given the role as the club heads into the Championship with a wider scope to sign foreign players. The 43-year-old had worked at Standard Liege since 2017 and spent the last three years as the club's head of recruitment. He had previously worked for Royal Francs Borains, who are currently in the second tier of Belgian football. Known by sporting director, Fergal Harkin, who also worked at Standard Liege before he took on the job at the Toughsheet, D'Afnay's appointment is expected to be confirmed in the coming weeks by the club. It also illustrates that Wanderers are now building an expanded scouting network which can begin to meet the challenges of playing at a higher level of football. Just as the news broke of D'Afnay's arrival, Bolton were immediately credited with an interest in Bosnian midfielder Dario Saric, who has been playing on loan in Turkey with Antalyaspor. The 29-year-old, who was born in Italy, did not make the Bosnia and Herzegovina World Cup squad but has 10 international caps to his name and is also wanted by Greek side Iraklis and Championship rivals Lincoln City, it has been reported. Saric is contracted to Palermo for another 12 months and has also played in Italy for Ascoli and Carpi. He has scored 15 times in 275 senior appearances across his career. Antalyaspor are thought to have passed on the option of signing him permanently at the end of his loan, in which he played 25 games and scored one goal. Wanderers have already added one midfielder to their ranks this summer in highly rated Scotland Under-21 international David Watson. Steven Schumacher also has Josh Sheehan, Xavier Simons, Ethan Erhahon and Ruben Rodrigues vying for a similar position. It seems increasingly likely that Bolton will tap into the European market for bargains this summer and the appointment of D'Afnay as a man-on-the-ground also follows up on Harkin and Schumacher's pledge to do more in-person scouting. One of the benefits of promotion for Wanderers is that they are granted an extra two slots for players who do not meet the FA's GBE (Governing Body Endorsement) criteria. Thierry Gale and Ibrahim Cissoko took up the two available slots last season. And though the latter has since returned to Toulouse, the former is now theoretically eligible to be transitioned to a standard GBE status having played in the requisite number of minutes for Wanderers last season. Provided that is rubber-stamped, the club would then have four ESC slots to play with for the 2026/27 campaign. Szabi Schon had previously moved from ESC to GBE status after featuring heavily in 2024/25 but he was moved out on loan to Gyor ETO, and the move has since been made permanent. Wanderers paid £700,000 for Schon in the summer of 2024 and are thought to have received just over £500,000 after the Hungarian club took up the option of signing the wing-back on a permanent basis after they have won the league title last month. Meanwhile, Wanderers will face Oldham Athletic in a pre-season friendly on Tuesday, July 21, (7pm kick-off).