CHUBA AKPOM has undergone a medical with Ajax, with his switch to the Dutch Eredivisie club expected to be confirmed in the next couple of days.

Middlesbrough should also complete two incoming signings of their own this week, with full-back Lukas Engel and forward Emmanuel Latte Lath currently putting the finishing touches to their respective moves to Teesside.

Akpom’s switch to Ajax, which will see Boro receive an initial fee of around €12m with more than €2m of potential add-ons also agreed, was effectively rubber-stamped over the weekend.

While French club Lens initially made a higher offer, Ajax was always Akpom’s preferred destination and further negotiations with the Amsterdam-based side resulted in an agreement that was acceptable to Boro chairman Steve Gibson and head of football Kieran Scott.

Akpom, who is set to sign a five-year deal with Ajax, was given permission to travel to the Netherlands, with Boro having accepted the time was right to engineer a sale. Last season’s leading goalscorer had entered the final year of his contract on Teesside, and had intimated that he was not prepared to agree to a new deal.

Michael Carrick left him out of his squad for Boro’s weekend defeat at Coventry City, and is understandably keen to draw a line under the situation ahead of this weekend’s home game with Huddersfield Town.

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Carrick should have two new players available for the visit of the Terriers, with Engel and Latte Lath both having agreed the terms of their transfers.

Engel has successfully completed a medical at Rockliffe Park, with his switch from the Danish top-flight set to be confirmed once the final details of the transfer have been signed off with Silkeborg.

Boro are paying a fee of around €2m for the left-back, who appeared in the Europa Conference League with Silkeborg last season.

An attacking left-sided defender, who began his career as a left winger before switching position after joining Silkeborg in January 2022, Engel arrives on Teesside as a replacement for Ryan Giles, who played such an influential role in Boro’s rise up the Championship table last season. Giles returned to Wolves after his loan expired in the summer, and has subsequently made a permanent move to Luton Town.

Latte Lath, who is a 24-year-old Ivorian forward who joined Italian side Atalanta in 2016, is also joining Boro on a permanent basis, with Italian media reports suggesting the Teessiders are paying around €5m to secure his services.

A pacy, athletic forward, he spent last season on loan at Swiss side St Gallen, scoring 16 goals in 34 appearances. He scored three goals in Serie B in the previous campaign, which was spent on loan at SPAL, and has been of interest to Boro’s scouting team for a number of months.

His arrival will help strengthen an attacking unit that has looked short of firepower in the opening two games of the Championship season, both of which saw Boro lose without scoring a goal.