HUDDERSFIELD Town head coach Michael Duff says that the club have no plans to enter the free agent market after the latest dose of unwelcome injury disruption to bedevil their League One season.
Matty Pearson, a former Barnsley player, has been sidelined for six weeks due to a calf injury sustained during training late last week.
Pearson joins a long list of absentees that includes three attackers (Joe Taylor, Rhys Healey, and Danny Ward), utility player Mickel Miller, centre-back Nigel Lonwijk, and winger Ruben Roosken.
Healey is out for the season due to cartilage surgery, although initial concerns that winter window recruit Roosken (knee) would also be sidelined for the remainder of 2024-25 have been alleviated. Despite another full treatment room, Duff has announced that there will be no free agent recruits.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s derby at Oakwell, he said: “The team is large enough.
“We’ve got a competitive squad. The fact that the team is in this position despite the number of injuries indicates that we have a squad.
“To be honest, we haven’t even discussed it, but bringing in another player who is unfit (not match fit) isn’t the solution to our current situation.
“We have enough players and hopefully we can get the ones that are ours to add to what we already have as we are low on (available) numbers.”
Pearson said, “Matty is out for six weeks, probably.” He pulled his calf.
“It’s a bizarre one, to be honest. He trained on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday before reporting in on Friday morning with a strained calf. We took him for a scan, which revealed a severe rip in his calf.”
This weekend, Duff returns to Barnsley for the first time since leaving for Swansea City in June 2023.
He went on to say, “I had a fantastic year there and a great bond with the fans. It’s all in the past now. If I receive some stick, I do; if not, I don’t. “I’m more focused on what we do.”
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