Middlesbrough's dressing room understands the importance of keeping key players at the club this month - as Dan Barlaser was asked about speculation that Ben Doak and Emmanuel Latte Lath could leave.

The January transfer window is not yet a week old but Boro have already seen plenty of talk surrounding two of their most important players. In a season they're hoping to challenge for promotion, they could do without losing two such key men - though keeping both could be very tough.

In the case of Liverpool loan star Doak, they have very little control. The Reds have a recall clause this month and last week rejected offers from Crystal Palace and Ipswich Town, but are said to be open to selling the pacey wide man if their valuation is met. Latte Lath, meanwhile, was the subject of a late summer bid from Ipswich that was rejected, and though they're yet to receive any concrete offers so far this month, there is interest.

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On transfer talk and the view in the dressing room, Barlaser said: "It's massive [to keep our best players]. We want to keep all our best players and bring some help in. We haven't had much luck with injuries again. Getting some lads back would be good but it's vital for any team, especially if you want to progress up the table."

On Doak's importance specifically, he continued: "All of those lads up front, the pacey players, Manu, Izzy, just put it in the space and let them run. If I was that quick that's all I'd be doing. Ben has been unbelievable, especially for the age he's at. Like I said, if we can get our attacking players in good areas we can score a lot of goals."

Barlaser was speaking after Boro's frustrating draw with Cardiff City. They were only able to draw 1-1 despite taking the lead after just 12 minutes. It was a game in which Michael Carrick's side struggled to create much after their goal to justify taking all three points.

Barlaser said: "It's definitely disappointing. We knew it would be that type of game because at Watford they played the same way and sat behind the ball. We started well, then they scored and just sat behind the ball. We could have been better switching play. We just weren't at our best in the final third. It's disappointing.

"It's very, very hard to break a team down who have 11 men behind the ball. There's not much space, we want space for our pacey players. We didn't give Manu enough service. But on the positive side we pinned them in and stayed patient."

On an afternoon where frustrations were felt from the stands in the performance, Barlaser had no problems with that, saying: "It's a good pressure. For me, it's an honour. We're fighting for a fantastic club who want to achieve things and the fans pay their money so they can shout and scream as much as they want. We kept going until the end but unfortunately we couldn't get the goal.