Mansfield Town battle on to try to keep John-Joe O’Toole

“It's all very amicable. We're just trying to get a deal that is acceptable,” said manager Nigel Clough.

“But he has a very, very good offer from a team in the league above. So it's going to be difficult for us to match that deal, but we are still talking and we're still trying.

“He is officially on contract with us until the 22nd January I think, so he has almost two more weeks with us in which we hope he will keep playing and we can keep working on things. But I think a decision has got to be made in the next few days.

“We do have targets going out and targets coming in.”

Clough continued: “We are trying to bridge the gap between the deal that's been put on the table, which is a very good deal both in terms of finance and length of contract.

“He is enjoying it here but first and foremost he is married with two children. As a footballer at 33 years old you have to look at the bigger picture and we completely understand his thinking at the moment.

“We're not 100 per cent out of it yet and we will keep working on it as long as we can.”