Sunderland boss Mick McCarthy admits he has little choice but to play a waiting game as he plans for life in Division One.
The Black Cats' manager, their third within a year, has already had to prepare for life in the knowledge he will be without some of his most accomplished players as the club wrestles with debts of £26.6 million and the massive fall in revenue caused by relegation.
Kevin Phillips has publicly stated his intention to leave, Thomas Sorensen seems certain to follow and young Frenchman David Bellion has been Manchester United-bound for months.
The likes of Gavin McCann, Jody Craddock, Kevin Kilbane and Michael Gray may also attract interest from potential buyers.
McCarthy will then have to pick up the pieces and attempt to mould a side capable not only of shaking off the traumas of a disastrous final top-flight season, but bouncing back in the first division.
"You look at the players and they all want to play in the Premiership," McCarthy said. "Everybody says 'Well, perhaps we might keep them all together, we might go straight back up'.
"But if I was one of those players, if I was Gavin McCann, Tore Andre Flo, Kevin Phillips or Thomas Sorensen, Michael Gray, Kevin Kilbane, Jody Craddock, I'd want to play in the Premier League.
"I think they're all very, very capable of playing in the Premier League, but it's not going to happen for all of them," McCarthy said.
"When I've spoken to them, without obviously saying they want to leave, they said they'd like to play in the Premier League, and that means they either go or they stay with me for 12 months - hopefully 12 months - and we get back up. Obviously that's the aim.
"Nobody actually came in and said that, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to guess what they mean when they say they want to play in the Premier League,," the Sunderland manager said.
McCarthy has indicated he will blend experience with the youngsters he seems likely to retain, and has been linked with Manchester City's Shaun Goater (33) and Burnley defender Steve Davis (34).