Rajiv van La Parra

Rajiv Ramon van La Parra (born 4 June 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays for German club Würzburger Kickers. A winger, he can also play as a striker. At international level, he has represented the Netherlands U21.

Rajiv van La Parra
Van La Parra playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2015
Personal information
Full name Rajiv Ramon van La Parra[1]
Date of birth (1991-06-04) 4 June 1991[2]
Place of birth Rotterdam, Netherlands
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[2]
Position(s) Winger
Club information
Current team
  Würzburger Kickers
Number 37
Youth career
1999–2008 Feyenoord
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008–2011 Caen B 13 (1)
2008–2011 Caen 16 (1)
2011–2014 SC Heerenveen 82 (14)
2014–2016 Wolverhampton Wanderers 53 (1)
2015–2016 → Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) 6 (2)
2016 → Huddersfield Town (loan) 8 (0)
2016–2019 Huddersfield Town 85 (5)
2019 → Middlesbrough (loan) 3 (0)
2019–2020 Red Star Belgrade 4 (0)
2020–2021 Logroñés 3 (0)
2021– Würzburger Kickers 0 (0)
National team
2005–2008 Netherlands U17 17 (0)
2009–2010 Netherlands U19 13 (1)
2012–2013 Netherlands U21 6 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 31 January 2021

Van La Parra played his first senior games in France with Caen before returning to the Netherlands in 2011 for a three-season-long stay with SC Heerenveen. In June 2014, he moved to England to join Wolverhampton Wanderers, who loaned him to Brighton & Hove Albion and Huddersfield Town before he joined the latter in 2016.

Club career

Caen
Van La Parra training with Caen in 2010.

Van La Parra is a product of the Feyenoord youth system, but made his senior debut instead for French Ligue 1 club Caen on 8 November 2008, having agreed a four-year contract in June 2008.[3] He cited the potential to reach the highest level while playing in France as the reason for his transfer.[3]

The right winger made only two appearances for Caen's first team during his first season, and the club ended the campaign being relegated. Despite this relegation, Van La Parra would make only a further eight appearances as the team won promotion back to the top flight, but did register his first senior goal; against Guingamp on 5 April 2009.[4] During these seasons, he instead gained playing time in Caen's second team that competed in the Championnat de France amateur.[4]

SC Heerenveen

In summer 2011, his contract was terminated and he returned to the Netherlands in search of a new club. After an unsuccessful trial at AZ Alkmaar,[5] he eventually signed a one-year contract with fellow Eredivisie side SC Heerenveen on 30 August 2011.[6] After scoring six times during 26 appearances in his debut season, Heerenveen elected to take up an option in his contract for two further seasons.[7] Over these three seasons, Van La Parra made 94 appearances (including playing in the Europa League), scoring 16 times.[8]

Wolverhampton Wanderers

His contract from Heerenveen expired in the summer of 2014, and after rejecting a new contract,[9] on 10 June it was announced that he would move to English Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers, with whom he had signed a three-year contract.[10] He made his debut in the first match on 10 August 2014 against Norwich City, and was named man of the match. He scored his first goal for Wolves against Fulham in the FA Cup on 13 January 2015.[11] His first league goal came against future club Brighton & Hove Albion in a 1–1 draw on 14 March 2015.[12]

On 26 November 2015, Van La Parra signed a loan deal with Brighton, lasting until 2 January 2016.[13]

Huddersfield Town

On 11 March 2016, after some speculation, Van La Parra signed on loan for fellow Championship side Huddersfield Town for the rest of the season, with the move becoming a permanent deal in the summer, on a three-year contract. He made his debut for the Terriers in the 4–1 West Yorkshire derby win against Leeds United at Elland Road on 19 March, and scored his first goal in their 1–0 win over his former club Wolves at the Kirklees Stadium on 27 August. Van La Parra was an instrumental part of the Huddersfield Town side that was promoted to the Premier League in the 2016-17 season. He was then a regular as Huddersfield went on to survive relegation in the following season. After falling out of favour following Huddersfield’s relegation, Van La Parra made it known he wished to leave the club.[14]

Red Star Belgrade and Logroñés

On 31 August 2019, Van La Parra signed a three-year contract with Serbian club Red Star Belgrade in a €1.2 million transfer from Huddersfield Town.[15]

On 16 November 2020, free agent van La Parra signed a one-year deal with Spanish Segunda División side UD Logroñés.[16] He was released from his contract on 31 January 2021, having made four appearances for the side.[17]

Würzburger Kickers

Van La Parra joined 2. Bundesliga club Würzburger Kickers on a free transfer on 1 February 2021, a day after being released by Logroñes.[18]

Personal life

Born in the Netherlands, Van La Parra is of Surinamese descent.[19] His first name Rajiv is a tribute to former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the son of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, assassinated in May 1991.[3] One of his half-brothers, Georginio Wijnaldum, currently plays for Liverpool, while another, Giliano Wijnaldum, is a free agent. His cousin, Giovanni Drenthe, is also a professional footballer, playing for SV Excelsior in Suriname,[20] while another, Royston Drenthe, came out of retirement and now plays for Kozakken Boys.

Career statistics
As of 31 January 2021[21]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Caen B 2010–11 CFA 121———121
2011–12 CFA 10———10
Total 131———131
Caen 2008–09 Ligue 1 200000—20
2009–10 Ligue 2 810000—81
2010–11 Ligue 1 600010—70
Total 1610010—171
SC Heerenveen 2011–12 Eredivisie 23432—00266
2012–13 Eredivisie 29510—60365
2013–14 Eredivisie 30530—20355
Total 821472—809716
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2014–15 Championship 401110000412
2015–16 Championship 130201000160
Total 531311000572
Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) 2015–16 Championship 6200—0062
Huddersfield Town (loan) 2015–16 Championship 80——0080
Huddersfield Town 2016–17 Championship 432201000462
2017–18 Premier League 333421000384
2018–19 Premier League 5000000050
2019–20 Championship 4000100050
Total 9356220001027
Middlesbrough (loan) 2018–19 Championship 3020100060
Red Star 2019–20 Serbian SuperLiga 4021—5[lower-alpha 1]0111
Logroñés 2020–21 Segunda División 3010——40
Career total 273242064013031130
  1. Appearances in the UEFA Champions League

Honours

Huddersfield Town

References
  1. "List of players under written contract registered between 01/06/2016 and 30/06/2016" (PDF). The Football Association. p. 33. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  2. "Rajiv van La Parra Profile". Premier League. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  3. "Van La Parra atout jeune et orange a Caen" (in French). Caen.maville.com. 20 June 2008.
  4. "Van La Parra" (in French). foot-national.com.
  5. "Rajiv de la Parra week op proef bij AZ" (in Dutch). fanvanaz.nl. 4 July 2011.
  6. "sc Heerenveen contracteert Van La Parra" (in Dutch). SC Heerenveen. 30 August 2011.
  7. "sc Heerenveen legt Rajiv van La Parra langer vast" (in Dutch). SC Heerenveen. 27 March 2012.
  8. "Rajiv van La Parra" (in Dutch). Voetbal International.
  9. "Van La Parra kan verlengen, Kum moet vertrekken" (in Dutch). SC Heerenveen. 23 April 2014.
  10. "Wolves sign Heerenveen winger Rajiv van La Parra". BBC Sport. 10 June 2014.
  11. "Wolves 3–3 Fulham". BBC Sport. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  12. "Brighton 1–1 Wolves". BBC Sport. 14 March 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  13. "Man Utd's Wilson & Wolves' Van La Parra join Brighton on loan". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  14. "Huddersfield 1–0 Wolves". BBC Sport. 27 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  15. Zvezda dovela pojačanje iz Premijer lige, obeštećenje od 1,2 miliona evra! at Sportski žurnal, 1 September 2019 (in Serbian)
  16. "Rajiv Van La Parra, nuevo refuerzo para la parcela ofensiva blanquirroja" [Rajiv Van la Parra, new addition to the white-and-red forward line] (in Spanish). UD Logroñés. 16 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  17. "Van La Parra, baja del mercado de invierno en la UD Logroñés" [Van la Parra, winter market loss for UD Logroñés] (in Spanish). UD Logroñés. 31 January 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  18. "Rajiv van la Parra bringt Königsklassen-Erfahrung nach Würzburg". kicker (in German). 1 February 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  19. "Zo kan het nationaal elftal van Suriname eruit gaan zien". Elfvoetbal.nl.
  20. "Spotlight on Georginio Wijnaldum: Newcastle's new Dutch delight – Football Oranje". 12 July 2015.
  21. "R. VAN LA PARRA". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  22. Woodcock, Ian (29 May 2017). "Huddersfield Town 0–0 Reading". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
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