Leeds United transfer update issued on pursuit of Middlesbrough's Emmanuel Latte Lath | OneFootball

Leeds have been linked with a surprise move for the Boro striker this month.

Middlesbrough striker Emmanuel Latte Lath is the subject of significant transfer interest this month.

The Ivorian international has been in fine goalscoring form in Michael Carrick's Boro side so far this season, with the 26-year-old already into double figures this term.

As such, Boro's number nine appears to be a centre-forward who is garnering a lot of attention, whilst his agent Mathias Veneroso revealed that they "expect something to happen in January" regarding a potential Riverside Stadium exit.

Veneroso had even been spotted at West Ham United's training ground just before Christmas, as the Hammers, Ipswich Town, Leicester City and fellow Championship rivals Leeds United have all been credited with an interest in signing him this month.

Leeds have emerged as surprise contenders for Lath's signature in recent days, with GIVEMESPORT revealing that there was "a genuine intent within Elland Road to secure Latte Lath's services."

However, a latest update report from The Northern Echo on Friday 10 January has poured cold water on the reports linking Middlesbrough's top scorer with a move to West Yorkshire this month.

They report that the Championship leaders are not pushing to sign Latte Lath in the January transfer window, before further revealing that sources close to Leeds are indicating that the club won't be spending major sums of money this month.

The report goes on to detail the fact that the Boro striker still has another two-and-a-half years left on his contract with the Teessiders, with Middlesbrough also possessing the option to extend that by a further 12 months.

It's believed that the Middlesbrough hierarchy don't wish to sell their prolific centre-forward in the winter window, but that there is an acceptance that every player has a price.

Middlesbrough may be in no position to sell Latte Lath this month given Tommy Conway injury blow

Perhaps one of the main reasons why Boro aren't actively looking to cash-in on Latte Lath's potential big-money price-tag this month is due to the injury situation of their other centre-forward, Tommy Conway.

The Scottish international suffered a blow to his hamstring just nine minutes into Middlesbrough's Boxing Day draw with Sheffield Wednesday, and it's understood that the 22-year-old is still potentially a number of weeks away from making his return to the squad.

There doesn't appear to be too many obvious in-house options to take up the centre-forward role if Lath was to be sold prior to Conway's return to fitness for Carrick to choose from either.

Delano Burgzorg can play through the middle, but the Dutchman has been playing well in his debut season at the Riverside from the left-wing spot, and so moving him out of that position could risk disrupting his progression in the Boro side.

Finnish international Marcus Forss is now back to full fitness having missed the majority of the season so far through injury, but like Burgzorg, he too has been deployed as a winger for the vast majority of his Middlesbrough career.

Aside from those two, Alex Gilbert and Sonny Finch would be the other potential options to take on the number nine role in Carrick's system. Therefore, Boro may feel like they can't afford to sell Latte Lath due to the strain on striking resources that would ensue as a result.

Middlesbrough head coach Michael Carrick can't guarantee Emmanuel Latte Lath will remain a Boro player beyond January

Speaking via The Northern Echo, Carrick reinforced his happiness with how his playing squad looks this month, but couldn't offer any guarantee that Latte Lath will remain a Middlesbrough player this month.

Carrick said: “You never know what’s out there and what’s going to come - who’s going to offer what. That’s not just about Manu, that’s any player. It’s a transfer window and anyone can offer what they want.

"So for me to sit here and say I’m confident or I’m not confident [in keeping him], it doesn’t really matter or affect it because we’ve no idea what might come. We’re happy with the squad we’ve got and we want to keep that squad together as much as we can.

"We want to be stronger at the end of January, which is obvious. How confident I am, it doesn’t matter because we don’t know what’s out there.

"By the same token, we might be looking at other players and their current clubs aren’t yet aware, then things happen. We’ve just got to be calm. We know what we want it to look like and we’ll make good decisions when we need to.

“Every player has different situations going on - be that their future, their family, their lives - and every player at this club has been absolutely fantastic. I can’t fault any of them for that.”