Renato Tapia

Club career

Born in Lima, Peru, Tapia started his football career at Sporting Cristal's youth team before joining Esther Grande academy at twelve years old, where he quickly established himself as a youth player there. While at the Esther Grande academy, he helped the academy win the Copa Federación with the categories 95, resulting him winning the Best Player in the 'Night of Stars' awards. His progression at Esther Grande academy attracted interests from Premier League side Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. Tapia revealed that he almost joined Liverpool, but was rejected, due to his height.

Twente

In the summer transfer of 2013, Tapia moved to Europe for the first time in his career, where he joined Eredivisie's side Twente, signing a four-year contract. Immediately after joining the club, he was sent to the Jong FC Twente to develop.

Tapia made his Jong FC Twente debut, where he came on as a substitute in the second half for Robbert Schilder, in a 3-3 draw against De Graafschap on 20 September 2013. Two weeks later on 4 October 2013, Tapia appeared in the first team for the first team as an unused substitute against Cambuur and appeared as an unused substitute eight times in the Twente's first team. Although he appeared in the first team, Tapia continued to develop at the Jong FC Twente and scored his first goal on 22 November 2013, in a 2-1 win over Willem II. Tapia went on to make nineteen appearance and scoring once for the Jong FC Twente in the 2013-14 season.

Following a season at Jong FC Twente, Tapia was promoted to the first team at Twente when he was at the first team training with the club. Tapia made his first team debut at Twente, in the opening game of the season, coming on as a substitute in the 80th minutes for Darryl Lachman, in a 0-0 draw against Cambuur. However, Tapia suffered ankle injury that kept him out for three months. After three months on the sidelined, Tapia made his return to the first team, where he came on as late substitute, in a 2-1 win over PEC Zwolle on 23 November 2014. However, in a match against Willem II on 21 December 2014, Tapia was sent-off, just 8 minutes after coming on as a substitute, for a foul on Samuel Armenteros, leading to Tapia's sending off. Though he received a one match suspension, Tapia scored his first goal for the club on 31 January 2015, in a 2-1 win over Cambuur. Tapia later scored four more goals later in the season against PEC Zwolle, Groningen and a brace against Go Ahead Eagles. However, Tapia's season ended when he suffered a knee injury and finished the season, making twenty-two appearance and scoring five times in all competitions.

Shortly after the end of the 2014-15 season, Tapia had a surgery on his knee and it was expected that he was sidelined for the start of the 2015-16 season, costing his place in the Copa América for the Peru squad. But in mid-July, Tapia made a recovery from a knee injury after training with the first team. Tapia then scored in the opening game of the season, in a 1-1 draw against Groningen. However, Tapia suffered a knee injury and was substituted in the second half as a result. Despite this, Tapia recovered and appeared in a number of handful appearance, playing the first five matches of the season, before suffering a knee injury against Ajax on 12 September 2015. Tapia, once again, suffered a knee injury in early-November though he missed one, but recovered in time for his international duty. Nevertheless, by the end of the first half of the season, Tapia made fourteen appearance and scoring once in all competition.

Feyenoord

After three years at the club, Tapia signed a four and one-half year contract with Feyenoord on January 27, 2016, for a reported transfer fee of €2,4 million. In December 2015, the club confirmed their interests signing Tapia after learning about the club's financial situation and Tapia were among three players at Twente to be sold.

Tapia made his Feyenoord debut in a rivalry match against Ajax on 7 February 2016, where he made his first start, in a 2-1 loss. However, Tapia's first team opportunities was restricted to three appearance and appeared on the substitute bench and playing in the reserve for the most of the season. Tapia later stated that in order to earn a first team chance, he needed to improve by acting faster and simpler to suit the club's tactics.

Ahead of the 2016-17 season, Tapia hoped he can established himself in the first team. However, Tapia continued to be in the substitute bench and after suffering from his own injury concern. It wasn't until when on 22 September 2016, Tapia made his first appearance in the second round of KNVB Cup, where he played 7 minutes after coming on as a substitute, in a 4-1 win over Oss. On 2 October 2016, Tapia scored on his first league appearance of the season, just 13 minutes after coming on as a substitute, in a 2-0 win over Willem II.

International career

After being included for the Peru U17 in the South American Under-17 Football Championship and Peru U20 in the South American Youth Football Championship

In March 2015, Tapia was called by the Peru's senior team for the first team. Tapia made his Peru debut on 1 April 2015, in a 2-2 draw against Venezuela. Tapia was expected to be in the Copa América for the Peru squad, but an injury prevented him from doing so. Despite this, Tapia was included in the squad for the Copa América Centenario and played all of the four matches in the campaign. Tapia scored his first Peru goal on 7 September 2016, in a 2-1 win over Ecuador.

Club

International

International goals

Personal life

Tapia said he preferred naturally number six on his number shirt.

Honours

Feyenoord