Kane Hemmings could be recalled by Oxford United if he starts banging in the goals

But boss Steve Evans would be delighted if Hemmings did that well and is hopeful the player would want to stay on board and see the job out on his season-long loan.

Evans knows Oxford have the final say and he could end up with a goalscoring headache in the New Year, but if Hemmings has already chalked up the goals, Evans said: “That would be great.

“Score me a lot of goals and give me the problem of finding another one in January.

“You would always rather have that problem. I have sold some gifted players over the years as a manager.

“I have always said if a player gets an opportunity to surpass where we are then good.

“But if he does come here and score goals, which we are hoping he does, why wouldn’t you want to stay here?

“The crowds will be almost double where they were at the beginning of the season and everyone will be really happy. So why wouldn’t you want to stay?

“But we have a lot of water to go under the bridge before that.”

The last striker to come on loan from Oxford and do well was Stags legend Matt Green – and Mansfield hope Hemmings can follow in his footsteps.

“Matt Green came here and did extraordinarily well,” said Evans.

“That was why he got another fantastic move. He is a good kid, but we can only focus on the lad we’ve got. “Kane is an exceptional striker. I am not sure too many guys get 20-plus goals in the Scottish Premier League in a team that’s fighting to stay in the division rather than at the top end of the division.

“He went to Oxford last season and, if you take the season as a whole, the kid scored 18/19 goals at a level above and a lot of those were big games.

“When you score against the likes of Newcastle you’ve got a bit of pedigree.”

Evans added: “We still have to get him razor sharp. “Like most guys who come in, like the MacDonalds and the Byroms, we’ve seen they were not where we needed them to be and Kane won’t be.

“But he will certainly be involved against Luton on Saturday and play a part. Everyone will find out if he starts when they see the team sheet at quarter to two.

“He is under serious consideration. But all our strikers are. We are in good shape.”

Evans was unaware of a fee had already been discussed with Oxford over a potential permanent move.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I think the chief executive has had those conversations. Obviously Oxford are his parent club and we have to respect that.

“I think both clubs understand where it would need to be if it happened.”