UPDATE — Thursday, January 16, 10:30 AM
Tom Bogert reports that Atlanta United has reached terms with Middlesbrough and is working to finalize personal terms with Emmanuel Latte Lath.
If this deal goes through, Atlanta United will retake the top spot in all-time MLS transfer fees, supplanting FC Cincinnati’s $16.2 million purchase of Kevin Denkey in the same window.
All that is left is a new contract for the player with Latte Lath likely set for a significant wage increase from his approximately $640,000 annual salary with Middlesbrough.
Emmanuel Latte Lath may be a step closer to joining Atlanta United.
According to Sky Sports in the UK, talks between Atlanta and Latte Lath’s current club, Middlesbrough, are close to “the advanced stages” following Atlanta’s $20M+ transfer bid.
However, Boro are hesitant to proceed with a transfer unless it can line up a replacement for its star striker; it bears mentioning that while the North Yorkshire side are in fifth place in the league table, it’s just a point ahead of West Brom with a host of clubs looking to jump to sixth and into a promotion play-off place.
The news comes as Atlanta are reportedly interested in Polish international Krzysztof Piatek. That development came days after an outlet in Poland stated that an unnamed MLS club had made a $10M+ transfer bid for the in-form Basaksehir striker.
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace striker Odsonne Edouard — on loan at Leicester City — has also been connected to Atlanta, but no new updates have materialized lately.
Nothing is official until it’s announced by both parties, but for now (at least) things appear to be moving in a favorable direction for Atlanta as they look to secure the services of Latte Lath.
| Get Atlanta United training ground updates, audio and video content you won’t see anywhere else, Discord access, and more. Support us on Patreon and help support independent soccer coverage here in Atlanta! Click here to start a 7-day free trial. |
Leeds United updated the ELL situation on their website today. Basically confirming that AU has done everything they can do and are just waiting for Boro to accept. Boro is delaying in the hopes that a EPL side will up the bid and creating an escalation for the price. No one has done so as of yet.
It may be late in the window before this closes.
Ugh. I get it, but man, S or get off the pot. Do you want to sell? Ok, let’s go. No? Ok, we’ll move on.
You’re not wrong, but we’d prefer AU hold out for the very best offer available if we were the sellers. It’s the business.
If I remember correctly, at least in this case we’ve got the time upper hand, since their transfer window closes before ours. Like waiting will still have to happen which sucks, but at least we can technically outwait them.
Is anyone familiar with Teesside Live? I’ve done a bit of digging and they appear to be a reputable source in the UK.
They are reporting as of yesterday that there is no agreement in place between Boro and AU at this time. https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/michael-carrick-makes-emmanuel-latte-30816925
I see he played for Boro today and scored a goal. I wonder if that says anything about our prospects of actually landing him?
The waiting is the hardest part.
Atlanta United have intensified their Premier League plundering by offering £15million for Crystal Palace striker Odsonne Edouard.
3 hours ago from MSN
They clearly made multiple offers for strikers. Only one of those offers has progressed to negotiations. Outside of Latte Lath, these stories are product placement advertisements by their current clubs looking for matching bids. This one is sourced from a Daily Mail story yesterday.
From MSN, the renowned football insiders of the world
Just read that…
Atlanta United have intensified their Premier League plundering by offering £15million for Crystal Palace striker Odsonne Edouard
What does it say about Garth if we spend 20M and the flops?
It says he went really big and missed once. No one has a perfect reputation.
If he does this 3 or 4 times with guys who miss, the conversation changes.
I feel faint. Help me, fellas!
As the ELL and Almiron negotiations advance, is it too early to lecture AU fans on being patient and embracing the new no news until real news style of window management, versus the previous negotiations via Twitter rumor dropping process?
We’ve tried, it doesn’t work. People get itchy this time of year.
I get it. We all would love to see the full roster getting all possible preseason training together and seeing moves across the league going down make one wonder what the hell is the FO doing. But yeah… that virtue thing can really pay off.
Fair. Charlotte announced negotiations for Zaha two days before the news about ELL broke. They seem to be closing that deal today. So that’s a potential timeline.
I get, but I’m seeking counseling right now
Boro has agreed to fee! It’s now up to Latte agreeing his compensation and passing a physical. Along with the Miggy news, this is like a lightning strike out of nowhere.
assuming we agree to personal terms with Latte, I hope his visa goes a lot smoother than Thiare. I guess Ivory Coast has a better situation then Senegal?
Yup! Just saw that Newcastle has accepted AU’s offer and Miggy is expected to be coming home!
Where?
https://t.co/7ZUcYMGu5M
“Set to accept.”
Apparently Daily Mail UK is considered spam on this site, so I’ll copy and paste from the article.
Newcastle set to accept Atlanta United’s £10m offer for out-of-favour winger Miguel Almiron… with Magpies unlikely to sign a replacement despite Harvey Barnes’ injury
Almiron is said to be keen to return to his former club after six years on Tyneside Club have already rejected offer for another star north of £6m from Fenerbahce
By Craig Hope
Published: 04:10 EST, 16 January 2025 | Updated: 04:48 EST, 16 January 2025
Newcastle are set to accept Atlanta United’s offer totalling £10million for Miguel Almiron with a move now expected to be finalised, Mail Sport understands.
However, the club have rejected an offer north of £6m from Fenerbahce for defender Lloyd Kelly and movement on that deal is less likely.
Almiron, 30, is said to be keen on a return to his former club and talks will accelerate this week, ending a six-year stay on Tyneside.
I’ve also seen similar reports from Sky Sports and The Mirror overnight. The Mirror, again, isn’t the most reputable source. Sky seems to be a bit more legit.
[…] Emmanuel Latte Lath: Atlanta United, Middlesbrough transfer talks reportedly near “advanced st… […]
Boro fan here – If you sign Latte Lath you will be getting a superb player, fast, skillful, scores goals, works hard off the ball, good personality.
Our financial model whilst in the Championship (It would change completely if we got promoted back to the premier league) is to recruit younger players with potential, develop them and then sell on at a profit. So if Atlanta meet the clubs asking price then we would accept and give you permission to negotiate a contract with Latte Lath. However our owner since 1986 (Middlesbrough born and bred) Steve Gibson never sells a player unless our valuation is met.
Recent examples of the above policy are our sales of Marcus Tavernier, Chuba Akpom, Isaiah Jones, Djed Spence and Morgan Rodgers with the profits from those sales being reinvested in the club.
It doesn’t always work out as shown by us releasing Mathew Hoppe (USA player) on a free earlier thiis month but we get more right than we do wrong.
By the way – The main Boro fans form is Oneboro not Fmttm which is more of a left wing politics forum nowadays.
https://www.oneboro.co.uk/forum/forum/4-boro-forum/
Thanks for the post! Much appreciated! And for the Oneboro info. I’m sure the others on this site are already familiar with Oneboro, but I was not. Cheers!
I’ll admit complete ignorance. I had no idea about either site.
But also yes, thanks for the insight Dajax!
Thanks for popping in with that! We’re hoping it works out, he definitely seems like a standout player
Well Jaime Moreno left the Boro to join the MLS a long time ago and he didn’t do badly !
I’ve been watching the Boro since the 1980’s and I can assure you (having watched both play) that Latte is a much better player than Jaime (and I mean no disrespect to Jaime who was a good player with good technical skills, but too lightweight for the English leagues)
So if the transfer is completed then I’m expecting Latte to be one of the standout players in the MLS, and I will watch with interest from afar.
Just read the chatter from Boro fans. They love Latte Lath. Rave about his quality and even his willingness and ability to win the ball back. They’re sad to see him go but totally get the financial situation of their club. Boro needs $$.
https://fmttmboro.com/index.php?threads/lath-atlanta-in-advanced-talks.65322/
Is there a world where we sign both Latte Lath and Piatek???
Apropos of nothing, ELL can play wing
I was wondering the same thing. Looks like we’re in serious talks about 2 starting strikers, and that’s a good problem to have and a good situation to be in. But that doesn’t always equal success. I’m sure they’re smart enough to know this (they’d have to be, they’re the top of their job class) just curious how it plays out.
if ELL can play wing, awesome, that adds to the flexibility we definitely need. But i’m not kidding, we truly need a #10 and i’ve said it before, I don’t think Alexey is it. (please, prove me wrong though).
Boro fan here.
Although he can play wide he isn’t a natural winger who would create chances for the team.
IMHO it would be a complete waste to play Latte Lath on the wing as it would reduce the amount of scoring opportunities he has and I presume it’s his goalscoring that you want.
He could play in a front two with a second striker if you play that type of system. 4.4.2 , 3.5.2 etc.
Boro normally play 4.2.3.1 with Latte as the 1 up front.
If you want a winger then you would be better off buying someone suited for that position instead of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
[…] Emmanuel Latte Lath: Atlanta United, Middlesborough transfer talks reportedly near “advanced s… […]