Krystian Pearce one of three candidates as Mansfield Town chase new defender

Murray has brought 12 new faces in so far – the joint busiest club in the country with neighbours Notts County – but admits another centre half is on his shopping list.

“I think that’s the one area we need to strengthen,” he said. “All over the pitch we’ve got reasonable numbers for competition.

“It’s not a big squad, which is what I wanted. During my chats with the board we agreed it was important we had a tight-knit group.

“But this is one area we are still looking to strengthen in. There are probably three we are looking at.

“Krystian played on Saturday, but he hasn’t trained all summer. He has been training on his own and I know myself it’s tough. He is not up to speed and is probably seven days behind in work to the other boys.

“But I was really pleased with the 45 minutes he put in last weekend. I think people locally know what he is about. He was flying at Notts County and I think they out-priced him with a move to the Championship.”