David Wagner has lifted the lid on exactly why Huddersfield Town are not chasing another central defender this January transfer window.

Neven Subotic of Borussia Dortmund is the latest centre-back to be linked with a move to the Premier League and the John Smith’s Stadium.

But even though Wagner knows the player and the club well, he will not be backing up the loan signing of Terence Kongolo from AS Monaco, at least until the summer.

Asked about the Subotic link, Wagner answered: “I know Neven. I know him very well.

“He is a great guy, a very good character and a very good player as well, but everyone knows in the centre-back position we have no pressure or problems.

“Maybe I can cancel this now for the rest of the window. We have done our business.

I am not in the market. Even if I have my eye on the market, I am very happy with the players we have, the group we have.

“Of course something can change in the next two or three weeks but, if everything goes to plan, we have done what we wanted to do.

“I am very happy with what we have together and this is why we don’t have to discuss further names in the future of this window.”

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A definite no on Subotic then? “Yes. And all the other names as well,” said Wagner.

“Even if we have our eye on the market, I think we have done our business.

“I am very happy with what we have done, even if it’s never 100 per cent.

“This is not something I can give because nobody knows what happens in the next two-and-a-half weeks with three games which we have in front of us.”

Pressed on Town’s central defensive resources, Wagner spelled out the return to fitness of Michael Hefele, only a minor injury for Martin Cranie and the ongoing rehabilitation for Jon Gorenc Stankovic as other factors in his thinking.

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Giving an update on Stankovic, who has been out since last March with a crucial ligament injury, the boss explained: “Since last week he joined the group in parts in training, and in this week he made some whole training sessions with the group and he is ready to join the group in full contact.

“Now it is all about finding the balance between training and recovering.

“He trains full - not every day - but he trains full and now we have to build up a plan of what we are doing to increase and improve the amount of training sessions a week he is doing.

“He will get some further sessions with the Under 23s - Mark Hudson’s team - and some minutes maybe in the next two or three weeks with the Under 23s as well.

“He is in full training, even if he doesn’t make every training session a week with the team.”

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So did Stankovic’s injury provide a factor for bringing in Kongolo in the January transfer window and calling that quits?

“Yes,” said Wagner.

“And the fact that Hef, in his two-and-a-half weeks back in training, has no issues.

“His Achilles looks fine - no problems.

“Of course, he has to catch up some fitness but these two people - in Stankovic and Hefele - have shown such good signs since they have come back to team training, they gave us the bravery to say we don’t have to go back into the market for a centre back - that, as well as the signing of Kongolo.”