Liverpool & Tottenham 'signal interest' in Schalke starlet Matthew Hoppe
By Tom Gott
Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have registered their interest in signing Schalke striker Matthew Hoppe this summer.
The 20-year-old American made his breakthrough into the senior setup at Schalke earlier this season and is currently the team's top scorer with five goals in 15 Bundesliga appearances this season, which speaks volumes of how well he has done considering just how bad Schalke are.
90min revealed in February that Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham had all been monitoring the striker, and now Transfermarkt have claimed that Liverpool and Spurs have taken things a little further.
The two English sides have made it clear that they would be interested in a deal for Hoppe at the end of the season, and they are considering taking advantage of a gentleman's agreement between Hoppe and Schalke which would allow the American to leave the club for the right price.
Schalke have promised Hoppe they will not stand in his way if a team offers a fair sum for his services this summer, with somewhere between £6m and £9m thought to be enough to convince the Bundesliga strugglers to sell.
Schalke are rock bottom of the Bundesliga, having picked up just ten points from 25 games. They are 12 points adrift, have had more managers this season than wins in all competitions and are currently battling debts of around £175m.
With so much going wrong at Schalke, teams across Europe are keen to take advantage with bids for Hoppe. Alongside Liverpool and Spurs, there has also been interest from Norwich City, but it is Ajax who are thought to be ahead of the rest.
Ajax recently lost their own young sensation, 19-year-old Brian Brobbey, on a free transfer to RB Leipzig, and they are keen to replace him with Hoppe, although no contact has been made between the two clubs just yet.
Not one, but TWO ?s! ?
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) January 9, 2021
A wonderful hat-trick from 19-year-old Matthew Hoppe to end Schalke's winless run. ?? pic.twitter.com/ZLzAr4dVEW
Schalke would prefer to keep Hoppe around, but given the circumstances, they are on the cusp of accepting defeat and see cashing in on the youngster as an easy way of raising some much-needed funds.
Alongside Hoppe, there have also been sides sniffing around midfielders Suat Serdar and Amine Harit, and there could be even more departures if Schalke cannot mastermind the comeback of the century.