Hoppe MO is two or three good games for his new club, then disappearing. Schalke -- vs. Hoffenheim, @ Frankfurt, vs. Koln (4 goals, 2 MOTM-candidate games), then nothing Boro -- only at the U21 level, and no one cares (vs. Stoke & vs. Norwich, 3 goals total, MOTM vs. Stoke) Hibernian -- vs. Kilmarnock, @ Livingston (1 goal, 1 assist, one of the best in the team for both) Quakes -- @ Portland, vs. Nashville (2 goals, got praise for both games, after meh)
Yes, but the context for that was that Hoppe didn't leave Schalke during the winter window after he first broke out and it became apparent that Schalke were careening towards relegation. Calling his agent "the worst" stopped after he moved to Mallorca, although I'm sure some posters were mad that he didn't go to the PL or whatever.
Good times! I’ve forgotten the details, but from what I remember Schalke first committed the unheard of folly of promoting Hoppe without taking the precaution of securing his services for a longer term first. Hoppe unexpectedly broke out (ala Mbappe and Haaland) and then it was his turn to stumble. For some reason, understandable to our resident experts but not to me, Hoppe gave up his leverage and signed an extension with imploding Schalke (when he could have left on a free at season’s end). Schalke continued on its merry path to relegation, Hoppe wanted out, and Schalke needed money, but Hoppe to Mallorca happened at the very last moment of the summer transfer window - never a good sign. I feel Hoppe’s agent has done well for himself and his client in monetary terms - which can’t be ignored - but not in development terms, assuming (as I do) that Hoppe had talent worth developing. Despite all the twists and turns, I remain hopeful …
This is turning into the USMNT striker pun thread. Sargent, Dike, Pepi, Jesus and Pefok are all just sitting there waiting to be used.
On Hoppe's agent, yes there was a time when he was considered in over his head. I know people on Twitter continue to dunk on him (and he's even gotten into spats on Twitter with fans) the best argument against him is that he advised Hoppe to resign with Schalke and then went for a transfer (which limited options) and Mallorca ended up being one of the only teams that made an offer Schalke was willing to listen to... if not the only (not sure admittedly). If online noise is to be believed Hoppe's agent also messed up securing loans to Malaga and Parid FC as well as a move to the Netherlands before the Boro moved materialized... now again this is all admittedly social media noise from content creators so take as a grain of salt. I know he's very polarizing but Tac verbalized the concern with Hoppe's agent best in saying if an agent fails at getting a good move for a player, the player then tends to only get moves to teams that are willing to take a flyer but not commit to the player going forward.... now the sentiment seems to be kind of true, but also at some point the questions will start going to Hoppe (similar to what happened to Soto)
Atlanta United were very interested at one point when he was in Spain. They were willing to spend U-22 initiative $$ to make the deal happen. Hoppe blew Atlanta off. I heard Spector flew to Spain and didn't even meet with them. Obviously, when people spend real money on you, you're likely to get real chances. Atlanta spends a lot on attacking players like Giakoumakis, but Hoppe would have been given a chance there over a long period of time while playing alongside guys like Almada.
I also felt like The Northern Echo's article on Hoppe's return made it sound less like "SJ just said no" and more like Hoppe said "I want to return to Europe", as they described the decision as "mutual" and that Hoppe is, "determined to force his way into the first-team". He's still got 2.5 years on his contract, and he was signed as a, "development signing", so there's no reason to believe 'Boro aren't going to give him time to grow.
Not surprising, he wasn't getting rave reviews in MLS from what I saw. Hoping he can get back on the bench at least but we'll see. I think he's making decent money so he'll probably need to ride this contract out.
He didn't get rave reviews but the quality is there. He's probably as good as Dempsey was at that age. I guess the problem is his maturity.
He won't have to wait for long--his contract is up this summer. If Middlesbrough isn't going to play him (and it seems that's the case) then perhaps they'll try to offload him for whatever amount of money they can get with such limited time left on his contract. Surely some 2nd division Dutch club could offer $100k for him. And if they thought he could help them get promoted, that would be a nice place for Hoppe to land.
He's at Boro through June 2026. His loan with San Jose originally ran through June 2024. I've made that same mistake on Transfermarkt before too.
The article linked above says he has 2.5 years left. Hard to see who will be interested after a relative lack of success in MLS and Scotland.
I saw every minute he played in San Jose-If Cowell leaves, he’s absolutely an upgrade over what they have currently at LW, although that isn’t saying much
Agreed, Im actually a bit surprised they let him return that early. There is a story there, and I am curious what happened. All that is left is Kikanovic who while an interesting prospect, makes Cowell look like a finely tuned specimen. Benji is raw af
I don’t know if this is Hoppe hope or a faded memory. Dempsey had 7 goals in twenty odd matches his rookie season at 21. His second season was even better. There is no way Hoppe is “probably” as good as Clint was at that age. He’s not even close. If he ever becomes that good…he may end up having a semi successful career. At this point I still have my doubts.
At age 20, Hoppe had 6 goals in 22 Bundesliga appearances. Dempsey was playing in a weaker version of MLS, while Hoppe has now played in 5 countries. Hoppe is in poor form but his quality is similar to Dempsey's, at the same age.
I don't know how anyone can look at his time in the Bundesliga and not see it as a freak run of form. Given what he had done before it, and what he's done since, it's statistical malpractice to look at it any other way.
In many of those countries, he failed to top 500' in a season. At 21, Dempsey was playing 2000+ minutes. I don't think the comparison is particularly flattering to Hoppe, but I also don't think any one path is predictive of a player's success.