Arsenal battling Everton for striker Matthew Hoppe as contact made with Schalke

Arsenal and Everton are both understood to be interested in Matthew Hoppe, who impressed for Schalke last season.

Posted Monday, August 02, 2021 by Express.co.uk

Arsenal and Everton are reportedly set to go head-to-head to sign Schalke striker Matthew Hoppe this summer. The 20-year-old forward is currently competing in the CONCACAF Gold Cup for America and has helped his country to the final of the competition, setting up a tie with Mexico in the process.

Hoppe burst onto the scene last season in the Bundesliga and scored a hat-trick against Hoffenheim in only his third start for the club in January. He then began to feature on a more regular basis and scored on three other occasions before the end of the 2020/21 campaign.

Despite his best efforts in front of goal, this was not enough to prevent Schalke suffering relegation from the German top-flight after a disastrous campaign.

A points tally of 16 from 34 matches saw Schalke drop out of the Bundesliga for the first time since 1988 and has already led to a number of first-team player exits.

Hoppe could well be the next to depart, having attracted interest from both Everton and Arsenal according to American reporter Grant Wahl.

Hoppe was a shining light in a dismal Schalke season

The talented youngster still has two years remaining on his current deal at Schalke, but is likely to jump at the chance to play in England’s top-flight should the offer arise.

Despite experiencing somewhat of a meteoric rise in a short space of time, Hoppe is refusing to get distracted by outside noise and is determined to continue improving as an individual.

“There’s no time to celebrate or to take my foot off the gas,” he told the Sirius XM show.

“I think teams got used to, or they started understanding how we wanted to play,” added Hoppe on last season’s disappointing campaign.

“It was a difficult year with how everything worked out.”

Hoppe’s jump to first-team football on the international stage has been just as impressive as his breakout Bundesliga season.

He received his first call-up to the America national team ahead of a friendly with Switzerland back in May and was then selected to be part of the squad to participate in the Gold Cup.

In the previous edition of the tournament in 2019, Chelsea star Christian Pulisic was named Young Player of the Gold Cup and has since demonstrated his ability to adapt to the Premier League.

The American star is viewed as a generational talent by those in his home country and Hoppe will now be hoping to follow in his footsteps.