Michael Carrick refused to rule out the possibility of Emmanuel Latte Lath leaving Middlesbrough this month amid links to Leeds United.

The striker is attracting considerable interest from Premier League clubs, including Leicester City and West Ham United. Reports suggesting the Foxes had made a £12m move for Latte Lath last week are thought to be wide of the mark.

Championship leaders Leeds are also said to be big admirers of the player. Several outlets claimed United were considering tabling a big-money offer for Latte Lath, who has bagged 10 goals for Boro this season.

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Promotion-chasing Middlesbrough are keen to keep hold of the 25-year-old again this month, having turned down a £20 million offer from Ipswich Town last summer. Head coach Carrick said: “You never know what’s out there and what’s going to come - who’s going to offer what. That’s not just about Manu, that’s any player.

"It’s a transfer window and anyone can offer what they want. So for me to sit here and say I’m confident or I’m not confident [in keeping him], it doesn’t really matter or affect it, because we’ve no idea what might come. We’re happy with the squad we’ve got and we want to keep that squad together as much as we can. We want to be stronger at the end of January, which is obvious.

"How confident I am, it doesn’t matter because we don’t know what’s out there. By the same token, we might be looking at other players and their current clubs aren’t yet aware, then things happen. We’ve just got to be calm. We know what we want it to look like and we’ll make good decisions when we need to."