Mansfield Town set deadline this week for new striker deal

The January transfer window is already in its third week and still Nigel Clough has been unable to agree a deal with the club he is speaking to.

But he does have other irons in the fire as back-up.

“We are still pursuing the main one and we should know this week. That is pretty much the cut-off point,” he said.

“If it's going to be done, we want something doing this week. We have other targets as well so after tomorrow night's game it should become a bit clearer within the following couple of days.

“It is about dealing with the club and trying to get them to agree to a very good offer we've put on the table.

“We are speaking to the clubs of the other targets as well and I think it will all go down to the last minute.

“But from our point of view we'd like to get one in before Saturday.”

On outgoing players, he added: “We are getting one or two enquiries– nothing major, which is good.

“With the injuries we have and being close to that bare 18 as well, people realise we won't be letting too many go, if any.”

Stags suffered another injury blow this week when defender Calum Macdonald was ruled out with a calf injury for up to six weeks.

“Calum has had a scan on his calf and he has a slight problem in there which will probably be four to six weeks,” said Clough.

“It was really cramping up and causing him a problem – something to do with the blood flow into your calf.”

Striker Rhys Oates has had an operation on his knee and Clough said: “It was all straightforward and the surgeon was very happy with it. Rhys is in reasonable spirits, but it's a long nine months ahead.

“But he has Elliott Hewitt and Alfie Kilgour going through it as well, so he is not alone.

“John-Joe O'Toole has trained, though, so he might come back into the 18 tomorrow.”

Clough has kept his troops active, despite losing two games in five days to the frost ahead of tomorrow night's visit of strugglers Sutton United.

“We've just been trying to tick over and be ready for the next game whenever it is,” he said.

“It's difficult when last Tuesday was off, then you think you're playing on the Saturday, then you're off again.

“You can't train on the grass because it's frozen so we've been doing what we could on the artificial.

“I am pleased Saturday was cancelled on Friday night so that we could put it in straight again on Tuesday, which seemed the most sensible course of action.

“Once the frost gets into the ground there are a lot of games off at lower league level. A sustained period of minus four at night, you can't beat the weather.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​