Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson said he has plenty of work to do in the summer to get the squad in shape for next season.
The dust has barely settled on their cruel play-off semi-final exit at Watford on Sunday but Pearson is already planning for City's next bid for promotion, and says he knows what needs to be done.
The work to shape City's squad has already begun and Pearson said they are trying to move on several players who no longer feature in his plans. Bolton and City are in talks over a possible move for Jermaine Beckford to the Reebok Stadium, and midfielder Neil Danns is also expected to move away from the club after spending most of the campaign on loan at Bristol City and Huddersfield.
There could be several others heading for the exit door as Pearson looks to build on the squad he has put together during the past year.
Several of the squad are also about to enter the final year of their contracts, including Kasper Schmeichel, Wes Morgan, Paul Konchesky, Sean St Ledger, Lloyd Dyer and David Nugent, while striker Martyn Waghorn is out of contract at the end of June.
"There is a certain amount of work to be done in terms of getting the balance right for the squad moving forward," said Pearson.
"We still have a number of players who, in an ideal world, we would like to move on. Unfortunately, we still have to deal with those players at the moment.
"But, with a bit of luck, we will be able to free up that situation by moving a few on.
"It is early at the moment and I have to see what the balance of the squad is when we turn our minds to the next season.
"I certainly have my thoughts on how we move forward but it is dependent on a few criteria."
Pearson admitted it had been a frustrating season in many ways, but said he feels the club is in a stronger position than a year ago.
He was also unhappy with the level of negativity that had surfaced during City's difficult spells this season.
"It has been an unpredictable season but we have had some very good spells," he said. "I think there has been a disproportionate amount of negativity spoken about us at times. I would be the first to concede that we had a long spell of not being able to win games, which left us in the position of having to rely on results elsewhere on the final day to get into the play-offs.
"But I do think, for the most part, the players applied themselves very well this season. The club is in a much better position than 12 months ago."
