Emmanuel Latte Lath: From Ivory Coast to European Football

Emmanuel Latte Lath can still see the cabin lights on that first flight to Europe.

He was eight, leaving Ivory Coast for Italy, staring at faces that didn’t look like the ones he grew up with. The excitement of a new life blurred into fear.

"I started to realise when I was on the plane and I saw people different than me, I was a bit scared," he recalls.

The move had been set in motion two years earlier, when he was six and told he would be joining his father in Europe. The wait felt long. The reality, when it came, changed everything.

Two lives, one bond

Latte Lath had grown up in west Africa surrounded by friends, family and street football. His father, though, had already gone ahead to Italy to build a better life. That distance left a gap.

"It was important because when I was born, it wasn't that close," he says. "He went to Italy to find a better life, so it wasn't that easy talking with him every time by phone. I was missing this part from my father."

Reuniting in Italy felt like a reset.

"When I saw him, it was kind of a new life, new motivation to stay close to my father, and then everything started again. It looks like I had two lives."

The second life began in a country where he didn’t know the language, the culture or the rhythms of the streets. What he did know was football. That, at least, had always been simple.

From street rules to structure

Back home, the game had been pure chaos and joy.

"Me and my five friends, we just built our team and we would go to play against another city, there was like no pressure, nothing," he says.

"It was just funny moments, enjoying football there, and it was quite competitive because it was almost every time finishing in some fights, so it was street rules. I was one of the most competitive."

"I missed it. Always together, being with my friends. It was really, really fun."

In Ivory Coast, he played barefoot, without boots, without organised teams, without tactics boards or systems. Italy was the opposite. Training grounds, drills, structure. A different world.

"It was exciting to learn and to show my potential," he says. "It was difficult in the beginning because I didn't know the language, but I had a really good person who helped me."

"It was important for me because I didn't have too many friends there. But I was just there to play football and after go home, I know timing will come."

Football became his language. Performances on the pitch spoke for him while the words in Italian slowly followed.

Atalanta and a night against Juventus

His progress carried him into one of the most respected talent factories in Europe. In 2015, he joined Atalanta’s academy, a system renowned for sharpening young players for the top level.

Two years later, he had his moment.

In only his third appearance for La Dea, in the Coppa Italia, he scored against Juventus.

"It's unbelievable, it's unforgettable. The emotion I had there, it's still the same when I'm thinking about it now," he says.

"The week before I was home with my family, we were just laughing and they were saying, 'imagine if I go, imagine,' and one week after that it happened."

It felt like the start of something. In reality, it was the peak of his Atalanta story. That goal would be his only one for the club and his final competitive appearance in their shirt.

What followed was the familiar route for many young players in Italy: the loan carousel.

The grind of Italian football

Over the next five years, Latte Lath went out on loan eight times. Different clubs, different systems, different demands. Progress was never straightforward.

"I think Italian football has always been one of the difficult football environments because it's a lot of tactics, a lot of rules also," he says.

"So it doesn't let you express yourself because you have to play with too many or a lot of rules."

"So it was difficult also to make a step, but it was also difficult to maybe keep going with the steps I made, but this gave me power to make a different choice."

The tactical discipline that defines Italian football can shape careers. It can also suffocate them. For Latte Lath, the constant movement and constraints pushed him towards a new path.

That change came after a prolific spell on loan at St. Gallen in Switzerland, where his goals finally drew sustained attention.

Carrick, confidence and goals in England

From Switzerland, the road led to the north east of England. In 2023, he signed for Middlesbrough in the Championship and met the man who would unlock the best version of him: Michael Carrick.

"I found a good coach and a good person. It gave me straight away confidence," he says.

"He was a calm person, a calm coach, maybe sometimes too much, but it was needed for us. He knew always when and what he should say to you in the difficult moment or in the good moment."

"So for me, I think in that point of my life, it was really important."

That calm authority, that trust, translated directly into numbers. Latte Lath scored 29 goals in 67 games for Boro, establishing himself as one of the most dangerous strikers in England’s second tier.

The surge in form carried him across another continent.

A record move and a quick return

His next destination was the United States. Major League Soccer side Atlanta United made him the most expensive signing in the league’s history at the time. The move underlined his rise and his value.

The reality did not match the billing.

America brought expectation, spotlight and a different style of football, but not the impact either club or player had imagined. By the summer, he was back in Europe, joining Union Berlin on loan.

Berlin, culture and the roar of Union

Union Berlin is a club built on defiance, identity and a raw connection with its supporters. For Latte Lath, it has been a revelation.

"I arrived here and I am surprised because the fans' passion is crazy. This is something new for me. It gives me an extra muscle, another power to do well," he says.

Berlin itself suits him.

"Berlin is huge, I love different cultures, and you can find different cultures and people. I think I can fit in because I grew up with different friends and cultures."

From the streets of Ivory Coast to the tactical mazes of Italy, from the noise of the Championship to the bright promise of MLS and now the intensity of Union, his story has never followed a straight line.

He once felt like he had lived two lives. In Berlin, with the city’s energy behind him and Union’s fans in full voice, it looks like he has started a third.