Feyenoord midfielder Renato Tapia is in the news in Peru this weekend. The player had a great performance against Ecuador and scored the winning goal which kept the team’s hopes of qualifying for the World Cup alive.
He was 16 and was called by the club to have a two-week trial. He was a central defender at the time, and played four friendlies for the Reds’ U19s.
El Becón says Liverpool were amazed with his performances and the player had a medical However, the club concluded that the youngster would only grow to 1.85m and they only signed defenders who were at least 1.90, so the move was ruled out.
Some years later, Liverpool called Tapia again and asked him to return as a central midfielder. But the player was in advanced talks with Twente and ended up going to Netherlands in 2013.
He played for Twente until January, when he signed for Feyenoord for €2.5m.
Of course, the story is Peru is going to be weighted in favour of their hero, so it’s hard to know how much truth there is the Liverpool rejection, but El Bocón sound convinced.
