Middlesbrough: Don Goodman issues Emmanuel Latte Lath statement amid ongoing Boro stance | OneFootball

The Sky Sports pundit has tipped star striker Emmanuel Latte Lath for a big season at Middlesbrough

Highlights

Don Goodman believes that Emmanuel Latte Lath is poised for another productive campaign at Middlesbrough amid the club's stern current transfer stance.

Middlesbrough will be hoping to contest for Premier League football and Latte Lath will be central to their targets, with the club reportedly not interested in entertaining any forthcoming transfer offers.

Middlesbrough reached the Championship play-offs in the 2022/23 campaign, which was Michael Carrick's first at the club, but the inability to truly replace Chuba Akpom and loan stars in Cameron Archer, Aaron Ramsey and Ryan Giles meant that they struggled in parts of last season. However, strong form in the crunch final run-in saw them finish in eighth place and just four points shy of Norwich City in sixth, teeing them up for another promising play-off pursuit next time around.

Inconsistency was a detriment to both Middlesbrough and Latte Lath, who initially struggled to find his feet after arriving from Atalanta last summer before enjoying a rich vein of form as the season grew on. The Ivory Coast international finished the campaign with 18 goals across all competitions, vindicating the stance that Middlesbrough have since taken to ensure he stays put at the Riverside Stadium.

The Teessiders are understood to be adopting a bullish and reluctant attitude to letting any of their prized assets move on this summer and Latte-Lath is among them. According to the Northern Echo, Boro's Head of Football Kieran Scott has declared that Lattle-Lath is simply "not for sale" after his remarkable end-of-season form put potential suitors on red alert.

Don Goodman issues verdict on Middlesbrough and Emmanuel Latte Lath

The Sky Sports pundit has stated that consistency will be vital for Boro next term, as will the presence of Latte Lath following his exploits in the final months of the previous campaign.

"Consistency is key for Middlesbrough," said Goodman, via OLBG.

"Look at the way they finished last season, winning seven, drawing four and losing one, which was that incredible home game against Leeds. 25 points from 12 games is promotion-winning form.

"To highlight inconsistency, though, in the 12 games before that they only won four, drawing six and losing two.

"With every passing season, Michael Carrick's experience becomes more valuable. He's made mistakes and will continue to do so but he'll also have learned from those mistakes. He knows this league now, having only played and coached at the top before joining Boro, and the Championship will no longer be a culture shock to him, he'll know what it takes to win promotion. "There hasn't been an awful lot of transfer business done at the moment. But the one factor which jumps off the page is how well Emmanuel Latte Lath finished the season, scoring 11 goals in his final 12 games. "He's clearly found confidence, form and his place within the team. He looked like a completely different player from the one that was missing chances at the start of the season. But at least he was still getting into the positions previously. If Boro can start well and create chances for him to score at such a rate, then you would say it will be a more positive season.

"But they are one of those mystery teams when you wonder what type of performance are we going to see and you just never know what they'll produce."

Middlesbrough must maintain Emmanuel Latte Lath transfer stance

Middlesbrough's position on Latte Lath's future at the club is pleasing for supporters at the moment, who'll be hoping it remains that way for the entirety of the summer transfer window. Goodman is justified in implying what next season could hold for the frontman, and with better service, there's not much stopping him from hitting the sacred 20-goal benchmark - the outline of a leading Championship goalscorer.

He can be exactly that and it's vital that Middlesbrough resist all offers for him in the coming weeks. As desperation sets in deeper into the window, clubs may well begin to scramble and present lucrative offerings to Middlesbrough, although the reality is any potential figures would still likely fail to compensate for the goals that would be taken out of Carrick's team.

We've seen many times before that clubs can initially lay down a strong stance before having their heads turned, and it's rarely a scenario which yields benefit. Boro are doing the right thing for now, but they must keep that in mind and continue to do so.