Mansfield Town boss Paul Cox hopes to hold on to Sam Clucas in January transfer window

The influential midfielder has played a pivotal role for Stags this season and has scored 11 goals in 23 appearances.

Clucas, who Cox has tipped to become a Championship player, is rumoured to have attracted the interest of Nottingham Forest.

And Cox knows if a big club come sniffing around his star man, Mansfield Town may be forced to sell.

“Money talks and I am not going to lie about that,” said Cox. “I have sat down with the chairman and discussed the ifs and maybes, but at this moment no-one has called about Sam Clucas.

“We are working hard to keep our best players, but money talks.

“I have been in the game a long time and I know that if one of the big clubs comes in with an offer then we have to listen.

“Sam is a great player who is on an amazing learning curve.

“We want to keep our best younger players and build a team around them for a future season and a future league.”

Clucas was named player of the round after scoring four times in the 8-1 win against St Albans in the FA Cup first round,