£2.5m American Hoppes on bandwagon

MATTHEW Hoppe has completed his transfer to Middlesbrough from Mallorca after his work permit was finalised. The striker becomes the club’s seventh summer signing.

The 21-year-old has signed a fouryear deal at the Riverside, with the fee undisclosed but believed to be around £2.5 million.

He joins Boro with ambitions to play more football and get back into the USA squad ahead of this year’s World Cup.

Hoppe was on Boro’s radar last year and is someone they considered signing last summer when he left Bundesliga outfit Schalke to move to La Liga.

But after a disappointing and injury-hit season in Spain that saw him make only seven appearances, Boro have moved this summer as they work hard to bolster Chris Wilder’s forward options.

The deal is a boost for Wilder, with his options short in the opening weeks of the campaign.

While Hoppe is still young, he created plenty of buzz during his time with Schalke and, described as an old-fashioned style of centreforward, Boro believe he will be more suited to the English game than the Spanish one.

He fits the model of the club’s transfer strategy too, signing young players who can be considered assets and are hungry to develop and grow while at the football club. It mirrors the signing of 23-year-old Marcus Forss from Brentford earlier in the transfer window.

With a little less than three weeks remaining in the transfer window, Boro are not done yet either.

Wilder would still like four more players this month, with one more striker, two more midfielders and a left-footed centre-back on his wish list.