Middlesbrough: Leicester City closing in on Emmanuel Latte Lath deal as £12m fee mooted | OneFootball

Boro's number nine looks like he may be on the move in the infancy of the January window

Middlesbrough could be set to lose their talisman Emmanuel Latte Lath very early in the January transfer window, with Leicester City reportedly closing in on a deal to bring the striker to the King Power Stadium.

The Foxes are struggling in the Premier League and currently sit second bottom of the top flight standings, with Ruud van Nistelrooy needing fresh firepower to compete with Jamie Vardy and Patson Daka - loanee Odsonne Edouard is set to be recalled by Crystal Palace.

And it appears that the East Midlands outfit are nearing a transfer deal that will see one of the Championship's most exciting strikers make the step up to the upper echelons of English football.

Leicester City closing in on transfer for Middlesbrough striker Emmanuel Latte Lath

According to a report from journalist Alan Nixon, via his Patreon page, Boro are on the verge of losing Latte Lath to Leicester despite their lowly standing in the Premier League table, although a fee has not been agreed just yet.

Nixon states that City are offering around the £12 million mark right now for the 25-year-old Ivorian, although there is an expectation that add-ons and extras will take the figure to higher than that amount to get a deal over the line.

Boro paid Italian side Atalanta £4.2 million to sign Latte Lath in the summer of 2023, according to director of football Kieran Scott, and he helped to repay that figure in his debut campaign with 16 Championship goals in 30 appearances.

Interest came last summer, with Premier League newboys Ipswich Town tabling a deadline day £20 million offer for Latte Lath, but Steve Gibson turned down the Tractor Boys' approach, leaving the striker to get his head down for Boro, where he has scored nine league goals since the start of 2024-25.

It had been reported this week from Ivorian outlet 225 Foot that Latte Lath had turned down a fresh approach from the Suffolk side at the start of the current transfer window, but it now looks like Leicester have a very good chance of enticing him to England's top flight.

It's hard to see Middlesbrough accepting £12 million for Emmanuel Latte Lath

As we saw in the summer, the very smart Steve Gibson turned down a huge sum in the form of £20 million for Latte Lath's services, and he's been just as effective during the current campaign.

In a mid-season transfer window where players' values should be higher, not lower if they're on a long-term contract, there's no reason to believe why Boro would consider cashing in for £8 million less than they turned down just a few months ago.