Middlesbrough are on the verge of signing Atalanta striker Emmanuel Latte Lath, according to reports from Italy.
TuttoMercatoWeb writes that the 24-year-old is ready to move to England, as he’s set to fly in the ‘next few hours’.
The report says that Middlesbrough will pay Atalanta a fee of €5m, with a potential bonus if they get promoted to the Premier League.
Latte Lath is set to have his medical on Monday morning, and is ready to sign a four-year contract with the club.
The transfer comes up as quite surprising, not only because there hadn’t been many rumours about it, but also because the striker hadn’t played for Atalanta for a long time.
Despite coming from the club’s youth ranks, Latte Lath had loan spells at Pescara, Pistoiese, Carrarese, Imolese, Pianese, Pro Patria, SPAL and FC St. Gallen in the past few years.
It’s at the Swiss club that he spent last season, having 16 goals and four assists in 34 appearances.
That’s where he probably caught Middlesbrough’s attention, and now it’s time to prove himself in English football.
The 27-year-old has been attracting interest from a number of clubs in recent months, with the player recording 28 league goals for Boro last term after managing to revive his career on Teesside.
Last summer, it looked as though Akpom’s time at the Riverside was coming to an end with the player seemingly not part of Chris Wilder’s plans – but Boro didn’t manage to secure a sufficient number of forwards before the 2022/23 campaign began and this allowed the ex-Arsenal man to force his way back into the first team.
Doing well under Wilder during the early stages of the season and continuing to thrive under Michael Carrick, the Teesside club could become the victims of their own success with Akpom who has proved his worth.
With Boro triggered a 12-month extension option in his contract, his deal at the Riverside doesn’t expire until next summer but the fact he has less than a year left on his current contract has allowed sides to swoop in and try and negotiate a sensible deal for the 27-year-old.
With Ajax and Lens agreeing deals in the region of £10m, personal terms will now need to be negotiated and this is not expected to be an issue for either side.
At this stage, the player is currently deciding which move would be best for him, with both sides competing in the top tiers of their respective countries.
Ajax are giants in Dutch football and Akpom may have a good chance to make his name there – but a switch to France may also be appealing for the player.
The attacker has already made moves to Belgium and Greece in the past, so a switch abroad wouldn’t intimidate him.
Leave a Reply