Tajon Buchanan’s signature backflips came to a halt after he broke his right leg during Canada’s Copa América preparations in July 2024. What followed wasn’t just months of rehab—it was a fight to regain his place, the support of teammates, and a loan move to
Tajon Buchanan talks about soccer like it’s personal—like it’s something that still gets under his skin even after everything he’s already lived through.
Typically straight-faced and taciturn. the 27-year-old winger becomes different when the subject turns to the game: playing it. watching it. dissecting it. and reliving the emotions of his professional career. When he sat at the end of his kitchen table inside his home on the outskirts of Valencia. Spain. this past February. sunlight poured through big glass doors as he described what it feels like when he steps onto a field.
“I’m able to express myself,” Buchanan said, and his face brightened.
That same brightness returns when he mentions the move that has defined him from the very beginning: a round-off handstand into a backflip. “The backflip?. I started when I was a kid,” Buchanan said. He grew up in Brampton. Ont. improvising acrobatic moves with his siblings. and as his career blossomed across the Greater Toronto Area. evolved through Syracuse University. took him to Major League Soccer. and eventually carried him into Europe. the celebration became the one unmistakable way he shows feeling he often doesn’t put into words.
“[The backflip is] me showing my love and my joy,” Buchanan said.
Chrys Chrysanthou—former youth coach and long-time friend—described how the moment reads to others. “You see that flip in big moments. He’s basically saying, ‘I’m head over heels for the game,’” Chrysanthou said.
When asked what the world looks like when Buchanan is spinning through the air, Buchanan answered with a chuckle: “A blur.”
Family. friends. teammates—people around him describe a life lived in forward motion. from one match to the next. and a constant pull toward the field. He rarely looks back on what he’s achieved or how it has reshaped Canadian soccer. He doesn’t live in retrospect; he lives to play with the ball at his feet.
But the story changed in July 2024, during Canada’s run in Copa América.
Buchanan broke his right leg—his dominant leg that has “afflicted so many defenders whenever he streaks down the right wing.” It was the same right leg that helped Canada win a penalty against Belgium in the nation’s first World Cup game in 36 years. It was also the leg that produced a picture-perfect cross onto the crown of Alphonso Davies’ head and into the net—Canada’s first goal at a men’s World Cup.
“He really didn’t think about the impact of what he was building,” Chrysanthou said. “And then all of the momentum and all of the hard work – love for the game – everything just stopped.”
As Buchanan spoke about the injury and the rehabilitation that followed, the smile left him.
“I’ve never told anyone this before, but I truly felt like my career was finished,” he said.
Before the injury even had a chance to sink in, the timeline moved fast. Canada traveled to the soccer facilities at Texas Christian University on July 2, 2024 to prepare for a match against Venezuela. Shortly after practice began, an ambulance was called to the field. Buchanan collided with a teammate during a drill, fell over, and sustained a broken tibia.
In that moment, he didn’t look down at his leg. He knew.
The whole scene shook the people around him. “My phone rings and it’s actually Dayne St. Clair calling and you just hear him breathing,” said Mike Senkowski, the agent for Buchanan and St. Clair. “[I said], ‘Dayne, are you okay?. Is everything alright?’ And [St Clair was] was trying to get the words out of his mouth: ‘It’s Tajon.’”.
Surgery happened the following day. After the operation, when Buchanan finally looked at his leg, uneasiness took over. The suddenness of the break, and the realization he would be away from the field for months, made him feel like his whole career might be on the precipice.
His leg was broken, and so was his spirit.
Yet in the immediate aftermath, something else came into focus: support—loud, visible, and constant.
So many teammates visited Buchanan in hospital. When Buchanan arrived back at Canada’s hotel following his surgery, the entire staff and team waited outside to greet him.
“It was very important to be there for him because obviously an injury of that nature is not easy to come back [from],” said Canadian goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau, who incurred a similar injury in the 2022 MLS Cup final, which ruled him out of the World Cup in Qatar.
Senkowski said the thing that stuck with him was how deeply the connection ran between the players. “The thing that stuck out to me was how much these guys love each other,” he said.
In the quarter-final win over Venezuela. after Jacob Shaffelburg scored Canada’s opening goal. Shaffelburg ran over to the bench. grabbed Buchanan’s jersey. and held it high—one defining moment of Canada’s time at Copa América. Above the field, sitting in a box inside Dallas’s AT&T Stadium, Buchanan said he was deeply touched.
“It felt like my second family was just rooting for me,” he said.
He knew his rehab would be intensive. He also told himself he would come back not just the same player, but better. He wanted to show Inter his worth—and in three months, he worked his way to full health.
But the return didn’t come with an immediate relief. Inter’s depth meant Buchanan wasn’t just fighting to get fit; he was also battling for his own spot on the team.
From the time he returned to the Inter bench in October 2024 to late January 2025, Buchanan made six substitute appearances in the league and started once in the Coppa Italia.
For those close to him, the struggle wasn’t theoretical—it was emotional, tied to playing time and opportunity.
“When he’s not loving his soccer, he struggles to love life,” Chrysanthou said. Buchanan, facing frustration and limited minutes, leaned on support from friends, family, and his girlfriend, Valentina.
“She is someone I can speak to any time of day. Through the ups and downs she’s obviously been there and experienced it,” Buchanan said.
Still, he wasn’t playing.
“I felt like I wasn’t good enough,” he said.
Senkowski says it quickly became clear Buchanan needed a new opportunity and a fresh start with a club that would value the freedom and joy he plays with when given the chance.
“I remember asking myself: ‘What do I want?’” Buchanan said. “And it was to play.”
That’s how the next chapter began.
In January 2025, Buchanan secured a loan move to Villarreal. The club is one of Europe’s overachievers—nicknamed “The Yellow Submarine” for its yellow jerseys and for rising again after disappointments. Villarreal’s story. and the city behind it. are built around resiliency: economic and climate hardship forced the club to move away from agriculture and crop production to ceramics. and Estadio de la Cerámica is wrapped in hundreds of ceramic tiles as a shrine to the town’s fortitude.
“Villarreal brings you back to the foundations when you were in love with football,” said the club’s commercial director, Juan Antón de Salas. “The way we’ve been able to come through all the way until today is by continuous improvement.”
He added: “Endavant [a Valencian word] is the war cry. It literally means ‘We have to keep moving forward.”
That culture has helped Villarreal punch above their weight in international competition. After years as a persistent. plucky presence in La Liga for 25 years. Villarreal won the Europa League in 2021 against Manchester United. Over time. their success has often come from players arriving for second chances and new beginnings—Santi Cazorla. Diego Forlan. Juan Román Riquelme. and Giuseppe Rossi among them.
“We are like a family here,” de Salas said. “When [the players] see they are supported, when the people are around you, a sense of belonging that’s amazing.”
Buchanan made 13 appearances on loan. His initial stint ended with a winning goal against Barcelona in May.
“For me it was like a new beginning, finding my level again,” Buchanan said. “I felt like there was no better place than to do it here at a club that is known for helping players reach those levels and get back to their best.”
Chrysanthou said Buchanan picked up a message that mattered: “I asked [Buchanan] ‘How are things?’ His comment was: ‘They just want me to be me. ’” he said. Chrysanthou also linked the club’s environment to what Buchanan knows with Canada. “Similar to the Canadian men’s team. [Villarreal] has built a culture where they felt like they can beat anybody. ” he said.
The momentum returned with the same energy that used to follow the backflip.
“Some people forgot who I am as a player,” Buchanan said. “I’m going to show everybody what they’ve been missing. No better way to do it than playing for your country.”
Last summer, during the Canadian Shield International tournament in Toronto, Buchanan scored against Ukraine and celebrated with his signature backflip. His older brother, Nathaniel, recalled the nerves leading up to it.
“When we saw the flip coming we all got kind of nervous, we hadn’t seen him do it since the injury,” Nathaniel said. “Okay, it’s game on now.”
Ten days later, during Canada’s opening match of the 2025 Gold Cup against Honduras, Buchanan scored again and celebrated with a backflip.
“Tajon’s a weapon. That’s the best way to describe him,” Jesse Marsch said.
On July 29, 2025, Buchanan made his move to Villarreal permanent. Less than a month later, he scored a hat trick against Girona—an La Liga hat trick and another first for a Canadian man. And he celebrated again with a backflip.
“Making that move changed everything,” Buchanan said. “It’s a great feeling. I’m back.”
Chrysanthou described what has carried Buchanan through. “He never gave up on that love. He never gave up on that belief that soccer can bring him joy again,” he said.
Now back in Spain, seated at his kitchen table with the sun shining behind him, Buchanan reflects on the last two years and looks ahead to this summer’s home World Cup.
Asked what wearing the Canadian jersey means to him, Buchanan smiled.
“The support from not only my teammates, but all of Canada,” Buchanan said. “I appreciate them so much.”
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