EMMANUEL Latte Lath's Middlesbrough future remains uncertain with just a week and a half of the January transfer window remaining - though Michael Carrick again moved to play down the situation.

Atlanta United made a bid worth around £20m for the striker almost two weeks ago and at that stage Latte Lath appeared likely to leave Boro.

But he has since played twice for Carrick's side and is set to again lead the line against Preston this weekend, with Boro's boss saying: "Nothing has changed, Manu is our player, he's happy."

At this stage it remains unclear as to whether any Premier League clubs, with several having monitored Latte Lath's situation closely, will rival Atlanta for the striker's signature in the coming days.

West Ham and Ipswich have both been linked with Latte Lath, with the Tractor Boys having made an effort to sign the striker on deadline day in the summer. But Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna yesterday said there were "very, very few" strikers available who ticked the boxes of what he was looking for in a No.9 this month.

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While Latte Lath's future is uncertain, Carrick is focusing on the immediate challenges ahead, and the striker remains at the forefront of his thinking - even though he knows he can't offer any guarantees that his No.9 will still be on Teesside at the end of the window.

He said: “The situation is exactly the same as it has been. I think you can see in his attitude to playing and the fact he’s scoring goals, it’s no issue for us.

"I can’t say for any player that we will definitely hang on to them. Every player in the world has some price whatever that is. There’s no denying that, that’s football. But nothing has changed at the minute, we are where we are, and we’re happy with it.

"I'm saying as genuine and honest as I can. Nothing has changed in my approach or what we're preparing for the next game."

If Latte Lath does leave this month, he'll be replaced, though the later it is in the window, the more challenging that would become.

Carrick said: "Regardless of what player we're talking about, transfer windows are transfer windows and for any club, the closer it gets towards the end then that is an issue. There will be plenty of teams throughout the land have bids in the last day or two.

"We had that last time out and it's something you have to deal with.

"You can't always plan for that and there are reasons why they don't get done or accepted towards the end. It becomes a bit more challenging to get things done. That's the dynamics of the window."

Despite the uncertainty, Latte Lath has continued to play well for Boro, scoring against Portsmouth and teeing up Ben Doak for his goal against West Brom in midweek. Boro will hope that continues as they go in search of much-needed momentum when they head for Preston tomorrow,

"Over the years we've seen players deal with windows in different ways. It's the same with clubs and managers," said Carrick.

"At the moment nothing has changed. The boys in all different ways are dealing with this and we'll just keep preparing for the next game. That's what matters."