Yeah, whatever his problems are they are more mental than skill set. He has size, decent pace for his size, and has shown both finishing ability and toughness. But there is something odd in his mind set that has set him back, and he has shown no inclination or ability to improve it. So I assume that’s just a part of himself that will relegate him to a lower tier career. (I know this sounds big, but my specific hunches about what that behind-the-scenes problem is are pure speculation, so I will keep them to myself.)
Chicken littles showed back up with the most recent news. I still believe in Hoppes abilities. Hope he finds a good situation next and if he has any personality issues I hope he’s maturing.
It’s an odd phenomenon, but they’re here again, circling overhead. Hoppe produced enough at SJ to be selected to start the most important game(s) of the SJ season. He started his time there slowly, didn’t set the world on fire, scored some goals, and played well enough - in comparison with other SJ options - to start a few late-season games and increase his playing time. I would be surprised if there were zero interest from other MLS clubs, but the price (free?) would have to be right, presumably coupled with modest salary expectations. I’m not even sure that SJ wouldn’t take him for free, but first they had to get out from under. I would include Hoppe in the next U-23 gathering, btw, but that’s a separate conversation.
I don't think anybody really questions his skill (though I do wonder if a big issue is where teams view his best position and where he views his best position), but at some point when a player has had 4 teams since leaving Schalke and had not played 10 games for any of those teams questions have to be asked.
Exactly. His agent did his job well, which is to get the player the best possible deal as directed by the player. It isn’t an agent’s job to tell a player that he isn’t good enough for a particular team or league.
I have no idea what Hoppe’s personality type is. I am 100% sure it’s no stranger than folks consistently making an effort to run him down.
Well ... regardless of his personality type, I hope persistence is in there, because he's not a compelling professional soccer player right now.
I am a fan. I am not running him down. I just think he has made certain choices that don’t maximize his potential performance.
His xG per 90 was 7 times higher than Cade Cowell's. I wonder if SJ would have been more interested in him were it not for his $725,000 salary. That's not a huge hit in MLS anymore, but it starts getting hard to build a team if you have two guys playing roughly the same position for a combined $1.4 million.
One side of the coin says he hasn't caught on, anywhere. Other side of the coin says he outproduced a B/C Gold Cup NT player and recent A team callup, on the same club team. I think he needs a 2nd tier but tactical league. Mid table Belgium.
The Belgian 2nd division sounds like a good place for Hoppe. Where ever he goes he's going to have to accept a serious pay cut. I can't find info on salaries in the Belgian 2nd division, as per your example, but in the 1st the average appears to be around $300k. I imagine the average in the second might be half of that, or less. Anywhere he goes he's likely to be make a small fraction of his current wages.
A bit of an update/clarification: “Hoppe is back on Teesside after his loan deal with MLS side San Jose Earthquakes came to an end, and was at Elland Road at the weekend watching Boro’s 3-2 defeat to Leeds United. While the 22-year-old’s loan agreement with San Jose contained a clause that could have led to a permanent transfer, the option has not been triggered and he has returned to England. The decision not to enact the clause was a mutual one, with Hoppe keen to prove himself with Boro after struggling to make an impression in the immediate aftermath of his move from Real Mallorca in the summer of 2022. Player registration rules mean that although his loan in the US has officially come to an end, he cannot play for Middlesbrough until the transfer window reopens at the start of next month.”
Hoppe's high EFL Championship salary does seem like a detriment to him finding a solid place to get consistent starting minutes. If his salary was half of what it is, he could probably have a long line of clubs waiting for him in the Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey, etc. I'm not sure Boro will keep wanting to foot chunks of his wages to loan him to smaller clubs.
The Jupiler. I was referring more to it being a 2nd tier Euro league, just outside the top 5-7, but still a decent level and fairly tactical.
Anywhere he goes, he needs to choose the name of his next club carefully. In Belgium: Hoppe Beerschot has a nice ring to it.
Belgium is a shout. Career prospects can change pretty quickly in football. Haji Wright looked about dead after his failed stints in the 2. bundesliga and Eredivisie.
At this stage, I think he might find it difficult to get a Jupiler League club to bring him in, even on lowered wages. That's why I thought Belgium 2nd division sounded about right. But, hey, maybe Eupen or some other lower table club will be the next to give him a shot. I just think he's gotten a lot of shots and produced very little.
Guess it depends on how you define "gotten a lot of shots." Since leaving Schalke, he's played just about 11 full league matches in total, and had 3 goals and 2 assists. His per 90 production is pretty good, but he hasn't ever established himself at these teams for reasons that we can basically only speculate about.
So Hoppe thought he was too good for SJ or he just liked the fat salary in the 1st League better? It seems like he wasn’t good enough for SJ since the decision to leave SH was mutual. Or, how do you guys read this? Is this all about salary or did Hoppe underperform for SJ? Or both?
Yes, he hasn't played much since Schalke--but he's certainly gotten lots of chances to show his stuff and earn time. Mallorca, Middlesbrough, Hibs, San Jose. He just hasn't earned much time at any stop. The first two have/had plenty of skin in the game with him. San Jose had a buy clause, which they wouldn't have had unless they thought he might be a positive addition to the team (and they also didn't make the playoffs, so if they thought he could help them get over the line they would have played him more). I don't remember the details on the Hibs loan, so maybe that club didn't really have much of a reason to play him, but the other 3 definitely did. And they still didn't play him. At least 3 of those stops can be considered "good shots". He's not going to get many more until and unless he fixes whatever is going on that convinces coaches, repeatedly, to not use him.
Wasn't Hoppe's agent called "worst agent in history" or something like that in this exact thread back in 2021? How time has changed.