Tag: Boavista

USMNT defender Cannon joins QPR — a team likely to pay him on time

The 25-year-old joins as a free agent after a challenging spell in Portugal

Reggie Cannon has finally found a new home.

The U.S. men’s national team right back has signed a four-year contract with Queens Park Rangers, joining the Championship side as a free agent.

Cannon moves to England after spending three seasons in Portugal with Boavista, where the right back said he was only paid on time once during his entire spell.

The 25-year-old left Boavista before his contract was set to expire, with the club’s financial issues meaning he was given, in his words, “unilateral just cause to terminate my contract.”

Now, Cannon will start fresh with the R’s, who are 19th out of 24 teams in the Championship table after eight matches.

“We have fought off clubs to get him and I believe Reggie will become a big asset for us,” QPR head coach Gareth Ainsworth told the club website.

“He can play on the right side of midfield, as a wingback and he can play as a right-sided center back, so he is going to add real competition for places which is what we need.

“With him being without a club over the summer, he is going to need a bit of time to get up to speed but I know he is raring to get going with us.”

Cannon added: “I have always wanted to play in England, this is an incredible opportunity to show what I can do. QPR is a very historic club and I can’t wait to start my career here.

“I have played a bunch of positions across the backline. I love getting forward, I love the ability to defend, I love the ability to do both.

“Gareth said he wants to use me to get behind the opposition backline but also being that strong one-v-one defender I am and can be.

“I am strong defensively but I love to get forward and to be on the counter attack, making those blazing runs on the overlap or underlap, I think that is something that is my strength.”

The former FC Dallas defender has 28 caps with the USMNT, and narrowly missed out on last year’s World Cup roster.

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Cannon: Portuguese league is much harder to play in than MLS

“It’s not just, ‘Oh, we didn’t make the playoffs, we have three months off and go on vacation.'”

U.S. national team right back Reggie Cannon has said that Portugal’s Primeira Liga is “much more intense and much harder to play in” than MLS.

Cannon came up through the storied FC Dallas academy before jumping to the first team, where he established himself as one of the top young defenders in MLS. In 2020, he made the jump to Europe when he joined Boavista in the Portuguese top flight.

The 25-year-old became a key figure at Boavista over three seasons, as the club battled relegation at various points of all three campaigns but managed to survive each time.

After spending significant time in both MLS and the Portuguese top flight, Cannon didn’t hesitate when asked to compare both leagues.

“l just going to come out right out and say it, the Primeira Liga is much more intense and much harder to play in than Major League Soccer,” Cannon said in an interview with ESPN’s “Futbol Americas.”

“That’s no slight to Major League Soccer. It’s obviously grown, it’s obviously improved, but there’s nothing that will compare to having a life-or-death game on the line,” he added. “When you’re in the last game of the season, your fans are surrounding the game and if you lose, it’s 1-1 in the 90th minute, you get relegated.

“That type of intensity won’t be replicated because it’s so important for our players’ growth and development. And you can just see on the players that they have to give everything. It’s not just, ‘Oh, we didn’t make the playoffs, we have three months off and go on vacation.’ It’s real and it’s life or death over there.”

Cannon is now a free agent after he terminated his Boavista deal for cause. He said in the interview that during his entire stay at the club, he was only paid on time once.

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Cannon: I was paid on time once in three years at Boavista

The right back said he had unilateral just cause to terminate his contract

Reggie Cannon has opened up on his spell at cash-strapped Portuguese side Boavista, saying that he was only paid on time once in three years with the club.

The U.S. national team right back joined Boavista from FC Dallas in 2020, and spent three seasons with the club before leaving at the end of the most recent campaign.

Though his contract was set to run through 2025, Cannon said in an interview with ESPN’s “Futbol Americas” that he is currently a free agent because he had “unilateral just cause to terminate my contract.”

The 25-year-old expanded on why he had the ability to leave the club early, confirming reports that Boavista struggled to pay players and staff on time.

“In Portugal in the past three years, I’ve only been paid on time once,” Cannon said. “And it’s been difficult for the players, it’s been difficult for the staff. It just came out that the staff was behind payments for six months.

“This situation has been very difficult for me and my family. Every time I went back, I didn’t have my visa sorted and I would have to wait six hours in the airport. The tax situation wasn’t sorted — I mean, I can just go on and on and on.

“I have nothing but respect for the amazing fans of Boavista, for everyone I played with, the coaches I played for. It’s been honestly very difficult because I felt the passion, I felt the energy of the club and it was just a difficult thing to have to leave on the basis of free agency having just cause, because there’s just been so many things that have gone wrong.”

Cannon said that he’s now free to sign with any team. After impressing with Boavista while playing both right back and center back, he’ll have no shortage of suitors.

“I am currently a free agent,” he said. “I had unilateral just cause to terminate my contract. And so hopefully there’s going to be some exciting news in the coming days.”

The former FC Dallas man said at this time, a return to MLS isn’t in the cards.

“I currently want to stay in Europe,” he said. “I still have much more to give and I genuinely feel that I can make it to the top, and that’s just coming from my desire, my hunger. It’s honestly about being in a good situation. At Boavista I was playing out of position, obviously difficult conditions to play in. So I’m very excited for this next move, wherever that may be. I’m open to anything.”

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