Matthew Hoppe: Middlesbrough beat Championship rivals Sunderland to £3m striker signing

Middlesbrough have beaten local rivals Sunderland to American striker Matthew Hoppe, TEAMtalk has been informed.

The Championship side are paying around £3m for the former Schalke striker, who was also of interest to their rivals from the north east. It is Middlesbrough who are winning the race though and they could cross the finishing line soon.

Hoppe will be Boro’s second American international signing of the summer. They recently brought in goalkeeper Zack Steffen on loan from Manchester City.

Steffen will soon be joined by his compatriot Hoppe at the Riverside Stadium. It will be another interesting piece of business for Chris Wilder’s side, who are hoping to build from their seventh-place finish in the Championship last season.

They have already added to their attacking ranks with the signing of Marcus Forss from Brentford. Soon, Hoppe will be boosting their options further, as TEAMtalk indicated was possible last week.

Hoppe has not yet scored for Mallorca since joining them last summer. He is going to leave them without having made much of an impact from just seven appearances, including a solitary start in La Liga.

Middlesbrough will be hoping to get something better out of him. Their top scorer in the Championship last season was Matt Crooks with 10 goals, so they have required more scoring sources.

Between them, Forss and Hoppe should have the bulk of those responsibilities throughout the 2022-23 season.

From his own perspective, Hoppe will be hoping to adapt to his first taste of English football. At the age of 21, he has plenty of time ahead to put his Mallorca days behind him.

He could have a big future ahead, with the next steps to be taken on Teesside.