Another USMNT player is headed to Middlesbrough.
After goalkeeper Zack Steffen went to the club on loan from Manchester City earlier in the transfer window, striker Matthew Hoppe is also joining, the team announced on Wednesday:
The deal is for four years and the transfer fee was $3.3 million, according to Transfermarkt.
The 21-year-old forward came up through the LA Galaxy youth academy before making his senior debut with Bundesliga club Schalke 04 in 2019-20. He scored six goals in 23 appearances, with one being a hat-trick, making him the first USMNT player to do so in Germany’s top flight.
Just a year into his stint with Schalke, however, Hoppe moved to La Liga’s RCD Mallorca, but his fortunes didn’t blossom there. He made just five league appearances without finding the back of the net.
On the international front, Hoppe has six caps with the USMNT senior team, all coming in 2021 and beyond. He made five appearances in the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament that the U.S. won, logging one goal and one assist. His other cap came in a World Cup qualifying match as a substitute against Costa Rica.
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The 6-foot-3 striker hopes to be in fine form as the USMNT still doesn’t have a clear-cut option at the No. 9 position with Qatar just a few months away.
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