Hoppe: "Dream come true" - "Do everything to keep Schalke in the Bundesliga"

"It is crazy; my dream has come true," Matthew Hoppe said to Transfermarkt as part of a Bundesliga roundtable on Tuesday. The 19-year-old arrived out of nowhere this season to score five goals in ten Bundesliga games for Schalke. The young American has been a small glimmer of hope for a club currently in danger of being relegated to the second division. 

"Everything changed so fast," Hoppe said. Originally signed in July 2019 from the Barca Academy after his agent Emmanuel Bond organized a tryout, the striker worked his way up by first joining Schalke's U19 and then to the U23, which plays in the Regionalliga West last summer. There Hoppe scored just one goal and one assist in 16 fourth division games. 

Meanwhile, in the Bundesliga, Schalke were struggling. Going from defeat to defeat, the club lacked a proper goalscorer. Die Knappen started the season without winning a game for 14 straight games. At one point, the Gelsenkirchen-based club threatened to break a winless record set by Tasmania Berlin in the 1965/66 season. 

Hoppe was called up after "I scored in training game"

The club tried to fix the problems on the pitch with the usual mechanisms. On Sep. 27, the club fired head coach David Wagner and replaced him with Manuel Baum. It was Baum, who would ultimately call up Hoppe, reacting to the fact that new signing Gonçalo Paciência was out injured and the club's fallout with summer signing Vedad Ibišivić. 

"The U23 was playing a training game against the first team, to help them with their game prep, I scored a goal, and they called me up to the first team," Hoppe said when asked about his surprise journey to the first team. "Then I played well and showed that I could compete." That was against Borussia Mönchengladbach on matchday 9. Schalke would lose that game and also not win the following four matches in the Bundesliga. 

Tasmania Berlin's record of 31 games without a victory was coming closer and closer with the losses piling up. On Dec. 18, the Schalke board reacted a second time, firing head coach Manuel Baum and replacing him first with interim Huub Stevens and then with Christian Gross. 

Gross kept banking on Hoppe. The US striker started in every single game under the Swiss head coach. It was also Hoppe who would ultimately end Schalke's losing streak and preserve Tasmania's record when he scored a hattrick in his club's 4-0 victory over Hoffenheim on matchday 15. 

The striker added two more goals in the Bundesliga since Schalke continue their fight against relegation. Hoppe admits that his hattrick, in particular, has meant that opponents are now paying more attention to his game. "I definitely notice that they call out my names more," Hoppe said. "But it hasn't impacted my play that much." 

Hoppe wants to "learn" from Huntelaar - New market value on Wednesday

Another change has been the addition of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. But Hoppe does not see the Dutchman as an opponent for playing time but rather as an opportunity to learn from an experienced player. "He would speak to me and tell me some small things and big things that I can work on, which I think is very important to me," Hoppe said. "We had a game, the next day, he came to the locker room with five to six pages of notes, speaking to players and point out what the team should be doing better." 

Hoppe sees Huntelaar as an important addition in the club's relegation battle. A relegation battle that Hoppe is determined to end on a positive note. "I will do everything to keep Schalke in the Bundesliga," the 19-year-old said. But either way, Hoppe will stay at Schalke, as the club just recently signed the forward to a new contract. "They gave me an opportunity, and I respect that." 

It will not be the only change for Hoppe in the coming days. On Wednesday, the striker will receive a new market value. "What do you think it should be?" Hoppe said, laughing when asked about his new market value. I guess we will all have to wait until Wednesday to find out.