New Burnley loan signing Richard Nartey is in the frame for a Mansfield Town debut on Saturday

With James Perch out with concussion and Farrend Rawson struggling with a back problem, Nigel Clough may quickly call on the impressive Burnley centre half.

“He is certainly in with a shout,” said Clough.

“We are just going to find out what games he has played and how many minutes he's played in the last few weeks. We will see how he looks in training today and Friday.”

Clough knows the player well, having had him on loan from parent club Chelsea while managing Burton Albion.

“He did very well, coming out for his first loan from Chelsea,” said Clough.

“Being at Chelsea for 10 years as a youngster you know he's had a good grounding and a good upbringing in terms of football, having been around such a great club.

“He came out and did really well for us at Burton in League One.

“Then he didn't have a club for a while and ended up at Burnley from last November, where he has played some U23 games.

“But most importantly he has trained with their first team, with the way that they play and train.

“I spoke to Sean Dyche about him and he said they really like him and they have been impressed. Most importantly he said that the first team like him.

“When you are a young player coming into that sort of Premier League squad it is very important to impress your team mates.”

However, fellow deadline day loanee Will Forrester from Stoke City will be another couple of weeks as he recovers from an ankle injury.

“He has had it since pre-season so we will very much be guided by Stoke,” said Clough.

“He is going to stay there to do his rehab until he is ready to actually join in sessions.

“He may do the first one or two at Stoke to make sure he is all okay.

“The deal is structured that we don't start paying him until he is fit anyway.

“But he is another good young centre half. He's played a couple of times for Stoke's first team and we think he's got a lot of potential.

“So he is going to come in, be around the squad, and challenge for a place.”

Stags today have Perch, Rawson and Ryan Stirk on the sidelines and Clough said: “There is absolutely no time scale on when Perchy is going to be back. It's just going be down to what the medical team say.

“A head injury is on a different level to a hamstring injury or a groin or anything like that. We have to be ultra-cautious with it.

“With these things we go through every sort of stage we need to in terms of precaution and make sure he's okay.

“Faz Rawson came off with a stiff back at Harrogate, but he was only going to play an hour or so anyway.

“And Ryan Stirk is still isolating with Covid but I think he's back on Friday.

“He has had symptoms but not since Saturday.

“What we've found with the lads that have had symptoms who've had it earlier on is that they do struggle a little bit for the first few days when they come back training. So we will have to see how he feels on Friday.”