Mansfield Town weigh up January transfer moves

He will also push to try to sign loanee left back Blair Adams on a permanent basis from Notts County.

“I will have a chat with the chairman and the board and see what they think,” said Murray.

“We might need a little bit of help. I keep saying we have a very functional squad here.

“We might just need that little bit of X-factor in the final third.

“I look at the centre forwards I’ve got and they are very good players and I look at the wingers I’ve got and they are very good players. But sometimes even they need a little bit of a helping hand.”

Adams has been a superb replacement at left back for the injured Mal Benning and Murray said: “I want to keep him.

“He has always been a League One player so if we do something long-term I think he is someone who allows us to get success in the long term.

“Whether we get success this year or next year, the project for me in my head is I want to be promoted in the next two years. That’s always been the case. This year was always a case of can we get up there and push it? But we had to put some stability and structure into the football club.

“If we get success this year, it’s a bonus. If we get promoted this year Blair Adams is a League One player. If it takes a bit longer Blair Adams will get us there.

“I would like to keep him but you know in all of these dealings, it’s not that easy.

“We have spoken to him briefly and I’m hoping this week we’ll have more conversation, but it’s not about me and Notts County, it’s about the football club, Notts County, Blair Adams and his representatives. I imagine they will have other options, he’s been great.

“If it’s as easy as saying ‘right Blair you’re in’ we’ll do, but it’s not that easy. We will work as hard as we can as I like him.”

Murray said Saturday’s visit of Accrington may be too soon for injured right back Nicky Hunt, but he hoped to have Hunt and Benning back in action in January.

“It will be touch and go. He will probably come back into training with us this week but I have to make sure he’s got enough in him to not come off after half an hour,” he said.

“Definitely over this next month if everything goes to plan we are going to have two full backs returning who have been a loss to us. At the start of the season they were two massive players for us.

“But Blair has been out of this world. He has for me been one of our best players – he took that mantle on. To sort something out with Blair would be excellent.

“Hunty will probably be sooner than Mal, but Mal’s progress is lightning quick and we are having to hold him back. He’d play today if we let him.

“We can’t risk him as it was a serious injury. We will do what’s right for Mansfield Town.”