THE BREAKDOWN: Tajon Buchanan is showing signs of returning to his best at Villarreal

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It’s still early into his Spanish séjour, but Tajon Buchanan is quietly starting to find his feet with La Liga outfit Villarreal CF, as he looks to make the most of his loan move to the ‘Yellow Submarines’ for the end of this 2024-2025 campaign. 

With 10 games left in their season, Villarreal remains locked in the race for the 2025-2026 UEFA Champions League, sitting six points behind fourth-place Athletic Bilbao with a game-in-hand. 

It’s yet to be confirmed whether or not the club will need to finish in the top five or top four to earn a Champions League berth, as Spain is currently one of the two countries set to receive the extra berth into next year’s Champions League due to the success of Spanish clubs in European competitions this year, something that won’t be confirmed for a while.

Because of that, the goal for the club is to finish in the top four, keeping their Champions League fates in their own hands, instead of finishing fifth and settling for Europa League with the possibility of Champions League qualification if results elsewhere go their way. 

To do that, a big game awaits this upcoming weekend - they host Athletic Bilbao at ‘El Madrigal’ in a massive six-pointer on April 6th, one that could be crucial in this race for that fourth spot. 

Should Villarreal win, not only will they cut Bilbao’s lead to three points, but they will retain a game-in-hand (which will come against 16th-place Espanyol later in April), giving them an inside track towards that spot. Meanwhile, a Bilbao win would extend their lead to nine points and all but end Villarreal’s dreams of finishing in the top four, giving an idea of why this match is so important. 

There, Buchanan will look to play a crucial role, as he’s quietly been asked to step up in a big way for his new club as of late. It started with a surprise call before the March international break, as Buchanan was asked to make his first start for the club in a home match against Real Madrid, and it continued into this past weekend, as Buchanan was tipped to make a second straight start in a match against Getafe. 

After a solid, if not unassuming, performance against Real Madrid, Buchanan burst to life against Getafe, too, assisting the opening goal in a 2-1 victory, putting in a performance that looked like the vintage Buchanan fans are used to seeing.

That’s crucial, as it’s been a while since Buchanan has been able to show the best version of himself, for a multitude of reasons. 

First, there was his move to Inter Milan from Club Brugge at the beginning of 2024, which while an exciting move for Buchanan’s career progression given the calibre of the club he joined, meant the Canadian international had to adapt from being a crucial piece at Brugge to a rotation piece at Inter. Especially given that he was joining the team halfway through the season, that meant that he only played 151 minutes across 10 appearances for Inter at the end of the 2023-2024 campaign. 

Then, having joined up with Canada for the Copa América last summer, a worst-case scenario happened for Buchanan right as he seemed to regain his confidence - he fractured his leg right before Canada’s quarter-final match against Venezuela. That injury had a big impact on him, as not only did his Copa América come to an end, but it derailed the start of his season with Inter, robbing him of a preseason as he didn’t return until November. 

That last point was key - it was expected that he would play a big role for Inter in their preseason after having started a slow integration process in the half-season spent at the club prior, but instead, he was sent back to square one upon his return. By then, Inter had a set squad hierarchy established, and it left Buchanan on the outside looking in again in terms of his minutes - he had just 163 minutes across seven appearances by the time he was sent on loan to Villarreal. 

Now, however, Buchanan is starting to find his legs again, as shown by his performance vs. Getafe. His new club had first eased him into action, giving him just 49 minutes of action across four substitute appearances, but as shown by the back-to-back starts, they feel he’s up to speed now. 

Of course, there was his assist, which was very well-taken, as he managed to find Ayoze Perez with a nice cutback to complete a 1-2 with the Spanish striker for the goal. For context, that was Buchanan’s first goal contribution since he scored for Inter in a 5-0 win vs. Frosinone last May - before then, his last goal contribution had come in October of 2023 in a UEFA Conference League game between Brugge and Lugano.

Here's Buchanan's assist from the match. As seen in the clip, he does well to find space, and quickly finds Ayoze Perez once he realizes he's in a prime shooting position. Well excuted play (via La Liga). 

On top of that, Buchanan was fearless on the ball, too, doing well to run at defenders, which is a hallmark of his game. As a result, he attempted four dribble attempts against Getafe, completing two of them (per WyScout).

An example of the sort of confidence Buchanan had vs. Getafe, as he receives the ball deep and wiggles through a couple of players before winning a foul (via La Liga).

That’s encouraging, as he had also attempted six dribbles against Real Madrid, meaning this two-game stretch was the first time he’d attempted four or more dribbles in back-to-back club games since he had attempted a combined 17 dribbles in his last two games for Brugge at the end of 2023.

Here's a clip from Villarreal's game vs. Real Madrid, where Buchanan does what he does so well, but hasn't done as much since the injury - takes the ball, goes to the byline, and makes a cross. Nearly creates a dangerous chance (via La Liga). 

Dating back to his time with the New England Revolution in MLS, Buchanan has always been at his best when he puts defenders on the back foot, something he hadn’t done a lot since his move to Inter. Not only that, but he’d looked uncomfortable doing so in the moments where he did try to dribble, such as in Canada’s recent win vs. the USMNT in the Concacaf Nations League third-place game - there, he attempted four dribbles and was only successful on one of them, the first time since August of 2023 that he had attempted four or more dribbles in a game and didn’t complete at least two of them. 

For a player who had averaged 8.13 dribbles per 90 minutes with the New England Revolution (at a 49% completion rate), and 6.29 dribbles per 90 minutes with Brugge (48.4%), it shows how important that is in his game, something that had gone away after the injury. Just look at his dribbling numbers in his first half-season with Inter - there, he averaged 10.78 dribbles per 90 minutes (at a 56.5% completion rate), showing that his only issue there was volume due to his lack of minutes, as he then only attempted 4.66 dribbles per 90 minutes (at a 40% completion rate) in the half-season he played with Inter after the injury. 

Now so far up to 7.33 dribbles per 90 minutes (at a 50% completion rate) with Villarreal, that’s encouraging to see, and a sign of Buchanan returning to his best, as he’s running at defenders and putting them under pressure again.

Another example of Buchanan dribbling at defenders against Getafe - this time he combines his dribbling with a bit of end product to help create a chance (via La Liga). 

Yet, another big reason for this, beyond the return of his confidence? A shift in his role, as Villarreal have deployed him as a wide midfielder in their 4-4-2, which has benefitted Buchanan immensely. 

At Inter, he was deployed as a wing back, a role he also mostly held at Brugge, sometimes even playing as a full back. Granted, he had a lot more attacking freedom than most playing those positions given that Brugge and Inter were dominant possession-based sides, but it still placed him in much more defensive positions than before, where he was usually a wide player with the Revolution and Canada. 

To his credit, he’s a solid defender - he won 62.3% of his defensive duels, and averaged 3.38 interceptions and 5.98 recoveries per 90 minutes with Brugge, and won 54.5% of his defensive duels and averaged 2.34 interceptions and 5.14 recoveries with Inter, but it still benefits him to be higher up the pitch. 

Plus, his defensive numbers have remained quite good in a more advanced position in Spain - he has won 56.3% of his defensive duels and is averaging 3.26 interceptions and 6.11 recoveries per 90 minutes for Villarreal, which is positive to see.

How's this for a defensive intervention? Here's Buchanan stopping a dangerous Real Madrid counter-attack led by Vinicius Jr (via La Liga). 

Now, the last thing he’ll need to re-find is his confidence in the final third. As mentioned, not only has he not gotten as many goals and assists as he would’ve liked over the last 18 months, but he hasn’t been generating as many chances, either.

Good run into the box from Buchanan, who does well to cut inside his defender, receive the ball in stride, and find a teammate. These are the sorts of runs into the box he'll want to make more of, as he's at his most dangerous when he finds space between opposing full backs and centre backs (via La Liga). 

So far, with Villarreal, he has two shots and three key passes - the good news is that one of those shots and all three key passes came against Getafe. After generating just four shots and three key passes during his entire Inter stint, that’s something he’ll want to improve on - he was averaging 1.27 shots and 0.62 key passes per 90 minutes at Brugge, and 2.4 shots and 0.76 key passes per game with the Revolution - a confident Buchanan gets into promising attacking positions and isn’t afraid to shoot or pass.

Of course, one can look at those raw numbers for his clubs and argue that’s a byproduct of playing at a higher level, but take his production with Canada, for example, which in theory would’ve improved as he jumped up the levels  - there, of his four goals and seven assists he’s had for his country, three goals and four assists came while he was still with the Revolution, and one goal and three assists came when he was at Brugge. Plus, not only did his last goal contribution for Canada come before his Inter move - it came at the 2022 World Cup, over 12 months before he made that move to Inter. 

Speaking of Canada, however, they’ll be pleased to see these developments - especially head coach Jesse Marsch. Having exclusively asked Buchanan to play as a wide player in his 4-2-2-2, he’ll have to be excited to see Buchanan play a similar role at Villarreal, one where he has a lot of important tasks on and off the ball, not too dissimilar from what he’d do for Canada. 

For a Canadian team looking for more goals, Buchanan can absolutely help be a part of the solution, having once been a key source of offence for Canada during the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Given that Marsch has had good contributions from wide players such as Jacob Shaffelburg (four goals and one assist) and Ali Ahmed (two assists), he’d be happy to see something similar from Buchanan, who will want to battle those two for more minutes out wide, having bounced in and out of the XI under Marsch, before and after his injury. 

If Buchanan is to regain his starting role for Canada, however, he’ll want to continue putting in performances like the one he had against Getafe. He does that, and he’ll gain more clarity about his club future as he enters another big summer, one where it remains to be seen where he ends up. 

Does he go back and get the shot he never got last summer at Inter due to his injury? Will he stay with Villarreal and help their potential Champions League (or Europa League) journey? Or does another club in the top five leagues give him a shot, having attracted suitors like Torino this past January? 

No matter the landing spot, however, the best way for him to put the pieces into place will be to keep putting in top performances like the one from this past weekend, which he’ll hope is the start of a return to his top-level, both for club and country. 

(All stats via WyScout, all GIFs via La Liga).