MICHAEL CARRICK has confirmed that Middlesbrough have "received bids" for last season's leading goalscorer Chuba Akpom.

Akpom does not feature in Boro's matchday squad at Coventry City, and in his pre-match interview with Sky Sports, Carrick has confirmed that Boro have had formal offers for the forward, who has entered the final year of his current contract at the Riverside.

Boro are understood to have received bids from both French club Lens and Dutch side Ajax, with the situation expected to develop further over the weekend.

The French media have reported that Lens' offer is worth around €15m once add-ons are included.

Sheffield United have also been consistently linked with a summer move for Akpom, who is expected to eventually leave Teesside for an up-front initial fee of significantly over £10m, but at this stage, the Blades are not understood to have tabled a formal offer.

Akpom's time as a Middlesbrough player now looks certain to be drawing to an end, with the club set to step up their own recruitment drive in the next week.

The Teessiders have held talks with Atalanta over Ivorian forward Emmanuel Latte Lath, and are understood to be closing in on an agreement, but will be pursuing both a number nine and a number ten if Akpom's departure goes through as anticipated.