He spent most of his professional career with Sporting de Gijón since making his debut with the first team at the age of 18, going on to appear in 313 official matches.

A product of Sporting de Gijón's cantera[2] he first appeared with the main squad during 2006–07, and established himself as first choice the following season as they returned to La Liga after a ten-year hiatus.

[5] Eventually nothing came of it, and the player again occupied the left-back position for the vast majority of the season, with Sporting again retaining their league status.

[6] In the following years, Canella continued battling for position with another club youth graduate, José Ángel, with both players appearing in roughly the same number of matches.

[14] Internationally, Canella helped Spain to win the 2006 UEFA European Under-19 Championship,[15][16] played at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup still being under-19[17] and then moved to the under-21s.