MICHAEL Carrick says Middlesbrough will look to sign a striker this month - but only if they think Josh Coburn and Emmanuel Latte Lath both face a lengthy spell out of action after their latest injury blows.

And while Boro are now anxiously awaiting injury confirmation on the two frontmen, Carrick says Marcus Forss could "definitely" be used as a central striker after his goalscoring return from injury.

After Latte Lath was forced off against Chelsea with an ankle injury, there was a further blow for Boro when Coburn was ruled out of the Millwall trip because of a long-running groin issue.

Carrick and the club's coaching and medical team will have to continue to manage that problem and with the severity of Latte Lath's injury still not clear, Boro run the risk of leaving themselves short up-front if they don't bolster that department.

The addition of a striker has been long discussed by Carrick and Boro's recruitment team and the club's stance has always been that they'd only make a move on a frontman if it was the right fit. What they didn't want to do was bring a striker in - especially on loan - if it risked halting the development of Latte Lath and Coburn.

But if Latte Lath faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines and with Coburn's injury showing no signs of easing, Boro's hand might be forced.

“It will depend on a couple of things, namely how long they’re going to be out for," said Carrick when pressed on the situation after the Millwall win.

"As I’ve said all along, that quick fix is someone is only out for a couple of weeks is not necessary.

"If it is a bit longer and you’re looking towards the end of the season then maybe we will have to look at that in the next couple of weeks. We’ll look at that as and when."

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Boro will continue to monitor and treat Coburn and make a game-by-game decision on the striker.

“He’s had a long-running problem with his groin," explained the head coach.

"That’s been over a period of time and it’s something we’re having to manage. We didn’t have loads of options on Tuesday and he had to come on a lot earlier in that one that we wanted.

"In the end, he probably pushed himself over that limit so we’ve got to manage him. We’ll have to see how he is, but hopefully he won’t be too long at all. At this stage, we’re not really that sure. We’ll have to look after him."

With Latte Lath and Coburn both out, Morgan Rogers led the line at Millwall and impressed Carrick. Boro were also boosted by the return of Forss, who came off the bench for his first outing since October and scored in stoppage time.

Forss has played most of his football for Boro on the right flank since Carrick's appointment but the head coach said he would be willing to move the Finland international back into a central striking role.

Carrick said: “I thought Morgan played that role really well today. It’s a different style to how the other lads would play it because he’s a different player. We flipped it second half and Sam played through the middle a little bit as well.

"I think what we’ve got is good flexibility and good variation. Marcus can certainly play up front as well, he’s done it enough.

"He’s played a bit off the right for us, but he can definitely do it. He does finish his chances when he gets them as well, as he showed. He’s a good finisher, Marcus."