Huddersfield Town '˜tried everything to keep Brown' but have moved on, says Wagner

It is with tomorrow’s opponents Brighton & Hove Albion and not Town that the talented 20-year-old now plies his trade despite the best efforts of the West Yorkshire outfit to sign the Chelsea attacking midfielder on a permanent basis during the summer.

There was no breakdown in Town’s quest to finalise a deal, but Brown instead made his way to Brighton on a season-long loan, much to the disappointment of sections of the Terriers supporters following the discernible impression made by the player during a memorable half-season loan in 2016-17.

Yet Town’s head coach David Wagner, while being an avowed fan of Brown, remains philosophical over summer developments.

He said: “It is something that was five months ago. To be honest, I do not know what the detail was.

“At the end it was clear that this probably would not work and you would have to move on. There comes a point as a manager where you are not able to wait any longer as other targets will not be available.

“I think there are no secrets. We tried everything to keep Izzy, but we were not successful. It was nobody’s fault. It is what we accept.

“Chelsea are the club who make the decision.

“Now we meet him again (tomorrow). He has not had the best start at Brighton, he was injured, but he has started the last couple of games. We hope we can keep him quiet.”

Brown, too, is phlegmatic about summer developments and his mindset will be strictly on business tomorrow for a game in which the paramount need for three points for both sides does not need spelling out.

Both Town and Albion started December with deflating defeats to the Merseyside duo of Everton and Liverpool respectively.

Brown said: “All the (Huddersfield) fans are still tweeting me, saying, ‘come back, come back’, but my main focus is on Brighton. So when it comes to the weekend, I want us to win.

“That is all I want to do, it is a must-win game for us.”

“After the play-off final, I thought I was going to go back. But, as the summer went on, things did not start to work out the way it was meant to be.

“They (Huddersfield) wanted to buy me on a permanent and it was not possible. I had a few meetings with the manager here and thought this (Brighton) was the club I wanted to join.

“The way the manager (Chris Hughton) plays will improve me. He is a great coach, so I made my mind up early in the summer that Brighton was a club I wanted to go to.”

Martin Cranie is Town’s only fresh injury doubt ahead of the weekend after twisting his ankle, but Wagner is hopeful that he will return to train with his team-mates today.

Defenders Jon-Gorenc Stankovic and Michael Hefele remain on the sidelines for Town.

Hefele will return to his native Germany shortly for two days for some medical analysis of his Achilles injury.