Middlesbrough may offload 23-year-old to suit all parties: View | OneFootball

Middlesbrough striker Matthew Hoppe has failed to make an impact since his move to the Riverside Stadium, and looks destined for a summer transfer.

The 23-year-old was signed from RCD Mallorca on a four-year deal back in August 2022, and was brought in to potentially lead the line for Chris Wilder.

A former Barcelona Residency academy prospect, - sister academy to La Masia - the USA international arrived with quite the pedigree for such a young player.

He'd bagged a Bundesliga hat-trick for Schalke as a teenager, and was quickly building a name for himself, so Boro fans were understandably excited when Hoppe decided to make the move to Teesside.

So why has it gone so wrong? FLW investigates...

A Chuba Akpom-sized roadblock

At the beginning of the 2022/23 season, Chuba Akpom's Middlesbrough career had followed a similar path to that of Hoppe's, as he struggled to hold down a place in the Boro squad.

He was even given the green light to seek a transfer, as Neil Warnock told him to find another club.

Thankfully for Middlesbrough, he didn't, and the rest they say is history. Akpom's 28 goals in the 2022/23 season earned him the Championship golden boot award, but for Hoppe, it meant playing time had become virtually impossible.

Any sniff of even a backup role to Boro's goalscoring phenomenon was taken away from him when the club moved quickly in the January window, signing Aston Villa striker Cameron Archer on loan.

That proved to be the nail in Hoppe's coffin that season, as weeks later Middlesbrough sanctioned a loan move to Scottish side Hibernian.

Multiple unsuccessful loans for Hoppe

Boro hoped that a temporary change of scenery north of the border would perhaps allow Hoppe to find his goalscoring spark once again.

Unfortunately, that wasn't to be the case, as the striker endured a challenging spell with Hibs that saw him fail to make an impact in Scotland, wth just one goal and one assist in nine appearances.

Hoppe's most fruitful spell since becoming a Middlesbrough player would come during a loan move back to his homeland with San Jose Earthquakes.

Two goals in eight appearances for the MLS side saw Hoppe recapture some of the form Middlesbrough had hoped they'd see at the Riverside, and so he arrived back in the North East in December 2023, hoping to finally make his mark.

Latte Lath has made number nine his own

But history was about to repeat itself, as just like the form of Akpom had prevented Hoppe from seeing action the season prior, the emergence of Ivorian international Emmanuel Latte Lath would once again leave Hoppe out in the cold.

The 25-year-old bagged 16 goals in 30 Championship matches last season, as he does his best to fill the large boots that Akpom left.

Hoppe's path to first-team football doesn't end with Latte Lath either, as Boro will be getting Finland international Marcus Forss back from injury this summer, and will retake his place as Carrick's second choice behind the Ivorian.

Local lad Josh Coburn will also be highly motivated to regain his first-team role next season, and will also prove a stiff test for Hoppe as both share a similar player profile to each other.

And so, with no viable route to regular minutes seemingly visible for Hoppe, it may well be in the best interests of all parties to call time on his Middlesbrough career this summer.