"Doesn't make sense" - Middlesbrough FC: Leeds United transfer fears played down | OneFootball

FLW's Boro fan pundit does not see Emmanuel Latte Lath going to Leeds this month

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Emmanuel Latte Lath leaving Middlesbrough for Leeds United this month has been deemed unlikely after new reports linked the Whites with a move for the Ivorian striker to help aid their own Championship promotion push.

Latte Lath joined Boro in 2023 on a four-year deal from Serie A side Atalanta, and enjoyed a fruitful debut season in English football under Michael Carrick, as he netted 18 goals in 36 games in all competitions.

The Ivorian frontman subsequently attracted serious interest from newly-promoted Premier League outfit Ipswich Town late in the summer window but stayed on Teesside, and has more recently been linked with a potential move to fellow top-flight side West Ham United.

He started this season slowly in front of goal for Carrick's side, with just one strike in the opening 10 league games, but has begun to net at a much-improved rate in recent weeks, and Leeds are the latest side to have reportedly registered their interest in his signature.

Boro fan pundit reacts to Leeds' interest in Emmanuel Latte Lath

A new report from Leeds United News claims that, given Leeds’ strikers' poor recent form in front of goal, Daniel Farke’s transfer priorities could change, and Latte Lath is a player they like and are considering a bid for in the January window.

They also claim that the 26-year-old has significant Premier League interest in him, with West Ham, Ipswich and Leicester City all amongst those eyeing his services, so a move could be tough for the Whites to complete given their lesser Championship status.

FLW's Middlesbrough fan pundit, Jasper Hudson, believes that Latte Lath will not be sold to Leeds anytime soon, as they are a direct promotion rival to Boro, and they are unlikely to be able to compete with those top-flight sides if bids start coming in for his services this month, after we asked him if he could see the Teessiders selling him to the Whites.

“I’m very confident that Emmanuel Latte Lath just wouldn’t be sold to Leeds,” Jasper told FLW.

“It’s just a move that doesn’t make sense. There is plenty of interest from Premier League clubs who will have more money and would just offer us a better fee.

“I don’t think he’d even particularly want to go to Leeds. It’s so close right now at the top of the table, Leeds could end up finishing in the play-off places, the same as Boro.

“Yes, they are a better team at the minute and are more likely to go up, but there is no guarantee.

“It just wouldn't make sense to me, when there is interest from West Ham and Ipswich, why he wouldn't take that step up immediately and go straight to the Premier League.

“I’m not sure why he would stay in the Championship and not even be guaranteed automatic promotion.

“I also just can't see them meeting a valuation, or being able to outbid a Premier League team that wants him, or us being particularly interested in selling to Leeds.

“I think it’d be very unlikely. If he does move on, it’ll be to a team that is already in the Premier League, I think.”

Emmanuel Latte Lath seems destined for a Premier League move

Leeds are currently top of the Championship table by a point ahead of Burnley and Sheffield United, and while they are on the right track to return to the Premier League this season, there is no guarantee that they will be in the top-flight next term.

Given his impressive form towards the end of last season, and Boro's subsequent failure to reach the play-offs in eighth place, it came as no surprise that speculation around Latte Lath's future was a huge talking point throughout the summer window, yet it was only in late August that the Teessiders first received a concrete approach for his services.

Wolves were first reported with interest in his signature in early August, alongside Monaco, Red Bull Salzburg and Stuttgart, but the Northern Echo reiterated Boro's stance of Latte Lath not being for sale unless they received an eye-watering offer that would be too good to turn down.

Said offer came too late in the window, as Ipswich made a last-gasp £20m bid for the Ivorian on Deadline Day, and he soon found himself at the centre of a dramatic late summer transfer saga after he had initially not travelled with his teammates for Boro's away clash at Cardiff City the day after, but the club turned down the Tractor Boys' approach, having dismissed previous proposals short of their valuation.

His form this season has been inconsistent, but that has seemingly not put West Ham off a possible January move, as journalist Gianluca Di Marzio claimed that Hammers scouts were present to watch him bag a hat-trick at Oxford United in November.

It is clear that he is set to be tracked into the new year by numerous clubs, with his potential to improve even further and real clinical ability in front of goal making him an attractive prospect to top-flight teams in real need of more striker depth.

Leeds may well have him high on their list of potential number nines to sign to help them into the top-flight, yet it seems pretty unlikely that he will make the move to a fellow second-tier side anytime soon, given the real interest from teams that are already in the Premier League.