Huddersfield Town boss Michael Duff believes the club’s trio of January signings have all arrived at the John Smith’s Stadium with “something to prove”.

The Terriers have strengthened their ranks this month with the additions of Ruben Roosken from Heracles Almelo, Joe Taylor from Luton Town and Dion Charles from Bolton Wanderers.

Roosken is testing himself in the EFL for the first time, while Taylor and Charles are targeting more game time with their switches to Town.

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Speaking initially about the two new strikers, Duff said at a recent press conference: “I think [they’re at] different stages of their career, but both have got something to prove. I think they both think they’re Championship players, but they’re both in League One, the same as we’re in League One.

“I think Dion’s in the prime of his career, and we think Joe can only get better. We think we can improve both of them, and hopefully they can come on the journey with us.

“There’s a lot of entitlement in football now, that we owe the players something or they have that about them a lot of the time, and I don’t think you have that with these two.

“Ruben is another example. He’s played in the top division in Holland, but he wants to come and prove himself in England, because it’s basically the place to be, the Championship, obviously the top division.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s where the money is as well, but he jumped at the opportunity to move countries to come to a League One team, which doesn’t normally happen, so he’s got something to prove as well, which is what you want.

“You want ambition, but a bit of realism within it. You can’t say you want to do it and then not be prepared to work, and that’s what we’ve done as a group to get us to where we are.”

The Terriers have been proactive in the transfer market this month, strengthening key areas within two weeks of the window opening. And Duff believes that making permanent signings rather than loans has allowed them to complete their business more quickly.

“We’ve had things fall down on deadline day, and fans get frustrated. No-one wants to do their business on January 31, but sometimes you’re a victim of circumstance, sometimes you’ve got to wait for the chain to start,” said the head coach.

“We’re not a Premier League club, so we don’t set the chain reaction. Luckily, the players that we’ve brought in, we’ve paid fees for, and they were deemed surplus to requirements at their clubs, so we didn’t have to wait.

“That was the beauty of why you can get it done so quickly, because they wanted to come, we wanted to do it, the selling club were happy to do it. It’s when you’re waiting for a loan, or someone has to get someone in before they let a player out (that it takes longer).”

Duff indicated at last week’s press conference that the club had completed their transfer business with regards to incomings, but departures could still be sanctioned, particularly if fringe players are eager to pursue more game time elsewhere. The Terriers have since sold Michal Helik to Oxford United.

But Duff believes that the club remain well-stocked in defence. In an interview with BBC Radio Leeds following Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Blackpool, he said: “We’ve not had Radinio Balker all season, and he’s a very good player, so that’s almost your one in and your one out.

“We were a little bit short today, but if you look at people like Lasse Sorensen, Ruben Roosken and Mickel Miller [that] are unavailable, David Kasumu can play right wing-back, Josh Ruffels is ill, (Nigel) Lonwijk, so there’s six or seven defenders straight away, and we did okay today.

“The one thing there is is competition for places now. Hoggy (Jonathan Hogg) and Antony Evans came on the pitch and they looked like they’ve got a point to prove.”