Middlesbrough are said to be prepared to listen to offers for their striker Uche Ikpeazu this coming January, as per a recent report by Football Insider.

The summer signing was only brought in from Wycombe Wanderers in July but has since fallen out of favour at the Riverside Stadium, thus raising questions over his future at the club.

With this in mind, we have taken an in depth look at the two options that Boro could take over the future of Ikpeazu in the North East.

Sell

Offloading a player who only signed for the club during the summer transfer window is certainly something that is easier said than done.

The main reason why Chris Wilder is said to be keen to offload the player is because he wants to bring in a new centre forward in order to kick start his reign at Boro after taking over the top job from Neil Warnock.

It appears that the former Sheffield United boss would prefer a striker who is more capable of coming short to link the play as well as having the pace to be a constant threat in behind.

Ikpeazu was signed by the club to fit into Warnock's favoured direct style of play, however with the tactics now set to shift under the new man in charge, the 26-year-old is now seemingly surplus to requirements.

Keep

The reasons for keeping the striker are obvious in truth.

It is still very early days in the Wilder reign at the Riverside Stadium and it could well be the case that he wants to see what the striker can offer his side before he decides to willingly offer him out to other clubs.

As mentioned earlier in the article, January is a traditionally tough market and it would be a challenge to find a club to loan the striker out to let alone sell him permanently.

Therefore it could be worth Boro holding onto him until the summer at least before reassessing the situation.