Middlesbrough will be sweating on January transfer gamble - it may end up costing them a play-off place | OneFootball

Middlesbrough's decision to sell Emmanuel Latte Lath and to bring in Kelechi Iheanacho has proven to be risky business by the club.

The January window is notoriously difficult, so it’s not the ideal time to do critical business that could determine your season.

The reasons for that are clear, as players don’t have time to adapt. There’s no pre-season, there’s no integrating into the dressing room. It’s a case of being thrown into the deep end, in a new setup, and you need to hit the ground running.

However, for Middlesbrough, that’s exactly what happened a matter of months ago, as Michael Carrick oversaw a mini-transformation of his squad.

Middlesbrough’s busy January transfer window

Mark Travers, Ryan Giles, Samuel Iling-Junior, Morgan Whittaker and Kelechi Iheanacho all came through the door, with George Edmundson also signing permanently.

Meanwhile, Matt Clarke, Alex Gilbert, Isaiah Jones and Emmanuel Latte Lath all moved on.

Simply put, it was a very busy window, and with so much at stake, it felt needlessly risky by the Teesside outfit given they were firmly in the hunt to finish in the top six.

Emmanuel Latte Lath is a big miss for Middlesbrough

Among all the completed deals, it was the sale of Latte Lath that had the most downside attached to it from Boro’s perspective.

The Ivory Coast international had proven to be a shrewd bit of business by the club, and he had started this season very well, scoring 11 goals before his departure, which made him the top scorer at Boro.

It wasn’t just the goals, as Latte Lath’s pace gave the team an outlet in behind, which would in turn free up space for his teammates to exploit. With Finn Azaz and Ben Doak also in the side, Boro had a formidable attacking unit for this level.

But, Latte Lath was sold, and, in fairness, you can understand why, as the £22.5m that Boro could end up receiving is a substantial sum.

Yet, with promotion to the Premier League worth in excess of £100m, and the fact Latte Lath was sold very close to the deadline, it begs the question: was it worth it?

Kelechi Iheanacho must come good for Middlesbrough

Right now, the answer to that is a resounding no. Iheanacho was brought in from Sevilla on loan as the man to replace Latte Lath, and he hasn’t delivered.

After seven games in a red shirt, the ex-Leicester man is yet to find the net, and he hasn’t registered an assist either.

Part of the appeal of Iheanacho was that he should’ve been a ready-made replacement for Latte Lath. He has experience of English football, with almost 200 Premier League appearances to his name, and it was felt he could make an instant impact.

Clearly, that hasn’t happened, and whilst there have been the occasional flashes of quality, he hasn’t done enough so far.

It isn’t all doom and gloom though, as Boro are only three points away from the play-offs, and they have the talent to go on a winning run.

With Iheanacho specifically, the international break may have come at the right time. The 28-year-old was not called up by Nigeria, so he has had a chance to work day-to-day with Carrick as he develops more of an understanding of what the manager wants.

All connected to Middlesbrough will be hoping Iheanacho can begin to find some goalscoring form, starting against Oxford United this weekend.