After starting out at Racing de Santander, he signed as a 19-year-old with Real Madrid for €4.5 million, but failed to reproduce his form at the latter club and left after only one season.

In 2006, 50% of his playing rights were bought by Deportivo de La Coruña as part of the deal that saw Pedro Munitis return to Racing with Dudu Aouate and Antonio Tomás moving in the opposite direction.

[2] Canales made his first-team debut on 18 September 2008, playing in a UEFA Cup home tie against FC Honka of Finland, a 1–0 win.

[6] The following week, as Racing drew at home to Real Valladolid 1–1, he also found the net,[7] and eventually finished his first full season with six goals and four assists to help his team narrowly avoid relegation.

[16] On 26 April 2012, in only his fifth appearance since returning, against Atlético Madrid in the Europa League semi-finals' second leg, Canales relapsed from his injury early into the second half of an eventual 0–1 home loss (5–2 aggregate defeat), going on to miss a further six months of action.

[34] Canales was selected to the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia, playing four out of five games for the national team (three starts) in an eventual penalty shootout quarter-final exit.

[35] He featured regularly in the 2013 European Championship Under-21 qualification where he netted three times, including a brace against Georgia; despite missing the playoff game with Denmark he was named in the squad for the finals in Israel,[36] but withdrew from the tournament after picking an injury in the first group match against Russia[37]– Spain went on to win the trophy.

[38] On 15 March 2019, Canales was called up by full side manager Luis Enrique for two UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying matches against Norway and Malta.