Middlesbrough FC lauded for "spectacular" £29m transfer profit | OneFootball

FLW's Middlesbrough fan pundit discussed the club's best signings in recent times

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…

Middlesbrough have been lauded for the signings of Emmanuel Latte Lath and Morgan Rogers, with both acquisitions helping the Championship club to collect significant profit in swift fashion.

Boro, of course, have not always got it right on the recruitment front in recent times. There are many hits and a fair number of misses, too, though it's hardly up for debate which category both Latte Lath and Rogers fall into.

Middlesbrough signed Latte Lath for a reported £5 million outlay from Serie A outfit Atalanta in the summer of 2023 following the departure of top scorer Chuba Akpom to Ajax. The Ivorian forward did a sterling job of filling the ex-Arsenal prospect's goalscoring boots over the next season-and-a-half, with a particularly impressive debut campaign yielding 16 league strikes from just 30 appearances.

Latte Lath scored 11 times in the first-half of the current campaign before leaving for Atlanta United in an MLS-record £22.5 million deal.

His absence has since been sorely felt, with on-loan Sevilla forward Kelechi Iheanacho failing to hit the heights thus far, but Boro have still received credit for flipping him for an incredibly handsome profit.

Rogers, meanwhile, joined in the same window as Latte Lath. The versatile attacker was picked up from Manchester City for a meager £1 million fee, which quickly represented chump change as far as Middlesbrough were concerned.

He registered seven goals and eight assists across all competitions and left for Aston Villa just six months later in an initial £8 million deal, which will eventually be worth up to £16 million if all add-ons are met.

The winger has excelled since moving to Aston Villa and is now an England international, while he has added 12 goals under Unai Emery this term.

Middlesbrough FC lauded for Emmanuel Latte Lath, Morgan Rogers transfer deals

FLW asked our Boro fan pundit, Jasper Hudson, to name one signing he believes represents the club's biggest transfer masterstroke. Jasper went with the deals for Latte Lath and Rogers, which collectively saw Boro net an estimated £29 million profit sooner than anybody could have anticipated.

"A few of our best transfers have come in recent years," Jasper told FLW.

"Two that instantly spring to mind are Latte Lath and Morgan Rogers. With Latte Lath, to sign a player for £5 million and him having a really successful time with us by scoring lots of goals, to then turn that into £15 million profit within a season-and-a-half is spectacular.

"With Rogers, it's very similar. In half a season, to make £14 million profit on a player just shows the great recruitment we've had. Also Carrick, how well he has been able to develop players.

"So those two really stand out in recent years, that ability to sign players and turn them into huge profits in such a short amount of time is only going to benefit the club financially."

Middlesbrough FC will be particularly proud of Morgan Rogers, Aston Villa developments

Latte Lath is already making a name for himself Stateside with three goals in his first four MLS outings, including the opener against an Inter Miami side spearheaded by the likes of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez on Monday.

That, however, was only to be expected from a player who had established himself as one of the Championship's leading marksmen over the preceding 18 months.

Rogers' trajectory, it must be said, has been something of a surprise. The 22-year-old's talent has never been in any doubt, but few could have expected him to blossom into a Premier League star so soon after leaving the Riverside Stadium.

Middlesbrough deserve plenty of credit for Rogers' exploits in the West Midlands, having landed him on a cut-price deal at a point where his stock was low following mixed loan stints with Bournemouth and Blackpool. Carrick developed the attacker extremely well, which could put Boro in good stead for future deals with top-flight youngsters, and Boro offered a springboard for his career to truly take off.

Villa may now be reaping all the rewards, but Boro netted a handsome windfall in the process - even if they would had liked to have Rogers for longer. Supporters will now surely hope these sorts of moves are replicated in the summer.