Latte Lath did not travel to Wales amid this late twist due to not being in the right frame of mind amid the transfer twist, as the rest of Michael Carrick’s squad jetted down to Cardiff on the eve of their Championship tussle with the Bluebirds the following day.
As it happened, Middlesbrough were able to fend off Kieran McKenna’s side, and as soon as it was clear that a move would not be materialising, Latth Lath made his way across the British Isles and linked up with the squad in time to be named on the bench for the August 31 clash.
Boro may well be able to breathe a sigh of relief for now, but as others welcome in the new year, Middlesbrough’s chiefs will be hoping their New Year’s resolution of keeping their starman on Teesside for a while longer will come true.
Losing Emmanuel Latte Lath mid-season could cost Middlesbrough dearly
If there’s ever a time you don’t want to lose your star player, it’s in the January transfer window. Whilst you may receive an inflated transfer fee for the player, replacing them mid-season with someone of the same ilk is always an incredibly difficult task to pull off.
Come January, Middlesbrough could well find themselves firmly among the Championship’s promotion contenders, and if so, will surely only be interested in strengthening their team rather than weakening it.
As other clubs are beginning to find out, Middlesbrough’s head of football Kieran Scott is no soft touch when it comes to transfer negotiations, refusing to cash in on key assets unless they feel totally confident that they will be the winners of the trade.
Therefore, it would surely take a fee that is comfortably north of £20 million for the Teessiders to even consider letting Lath go in January, should Ipswich or any other interested party come to the table.
That’s because the importance Lath has to Boro’s chances of promotion this season is something you can’t really put a price on, as he looks to build on his 16 goals in 30 Championship appearances from last season.
