Cani, Edgar Junior (Edgar)

2014-2015 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Striker

Born: Tirana, Albania: 22-07-1989

Debut: Brentford (h) (substitute): 07-02-2015

Height & Weight: 6ft 4ins 13st 10lb

Cani was born in Albania but grew up in Citta della Pieve, fifty miles south of Perugia in Central Italy. He was taken to Pescara Calcio, on the Adriatic coast in 2004 and he a signed for Delfini during their short stay in Serie A. The club had fallen to Serie C1, when he made his debut for them in the early part of the 2007-08 season when he scored three times in eleven appearances before he was signed by Serie A side, US Palermo, for a fee of £320,000. He made his debut for them in a 0-0 home draw with Atalanta on 27th April 2008, which was his only appearance for the club, as he came on as a seventy-third minute substitute for Edinson Cavani. In July 2008 he went on loan to Serie B side Ascoli, where he remained for the 2008-09 season and scored three goals in fifteen appearances with all but one being in the starting eleven, as Ascoli finished sixteenth in Serie B. The following season he was loaned to another Serie B club in Padova and by the end of the first half of the season he had scored just twice in nine starts and seven substitute appearances for the struggling club. He left Padova and was then loaned to another Serie B side in Piacenza for the rest of the season. He found it an immediate improvement as he scored twice on debut as his new club defeated Treistina 3-1 on 30th January 2010 and he went on to score four times in nine starts and five games from the bench as his new club finished fifteenth. He was again loaned out for the 2010-11 season, this time to a further Serie B team in FC Modena. His highlight was when he scored both goals in a 2-1 home win over Vicenza on 13th November 2010, and he went on to score five times in twenty -two starts and twelve games from the bench as his club finished tenth. On 13th July 2011 he was sold by US Palermo to Polish Club Polonia of Warsaw on a four year contract, for £560,000, but was soon in conflict with the Polish club owners, coach and teammates. However, he did start to impress with his ability, scoring eleven goals in fourteen starts and twelve games from the bench, but he also sat unused on the bench in thirteen others as well as being substituted in seven of his starts, in his first season after initialy wanting to return to Italy. Cani received his first cap for Albania on 29th February 2012 in a friendly with Georgia at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi, and he scored after just three minutes but Albania ultimately lost 1-2 and Armando Sadiku replaced him with eight minutes remaining. He took his caps to three with two Friendlies in quick succession when he played another seventy-three minutes before being substituted by Ansi Agollias as Albania beat Qatar 2-1 at the Campo de Futbol de Vallecas in Madrid on 22nd May 2012 and five days later he played sixty-eight minutes before being replaced by the same player as they defeated Iran 1-0 at the BJK Inonu Stadium in Istanbul. He remained unsettled in his second season and, after refusing to return for the club's pre-season training, when he finally returned to Warsaw he found himself with limited opportunities after again being at odds with the coach and forced to train with the club's junior teams. He did not start a first team game and his five substitute appearance yielded only forty-nine minutes of playing time. His record at Polonia was eleven goals in fourteen starts and seventeen as a substitute. Although still contracted to Polonia until 2015 he returned to Italy and signed for Serie A side Catania on a three year contract on 22nd January 2013 on a free transfer. He made his debut on 3rd March 2013 with five minutes left on the clock as a substitute for Gonzalo Bergessio in a 3-2 home defeat by Inter-Milan in which he managed to get booked within a minute of taking to the field. He made little impact with his new club as he managed just twenty-eight minutes of playing time in four substitute appearances, spending most of his time on the bench as that was his vantage point on twelve occasions as he remained unused. He added another eight caps to his international collection for Albania taking him to eleven by the end of the 2012-13 season. On 15th August he played in the 0-0 Friendly draw with Moldova at the Qemal Stafa Stadium in Tirana when he was replaced at half-time by Erjon Bogdani. This was followed by four World Cup Group E qualifiers. The first on 7th September 2012, saw Albania 3-1 victors over Cyprus at the Qemal Stafa Stadium in Tirana and saw Cani register his second international goal three minutes after replacing Hamdi Salihi in the eighty-first minute. Four days later Albania went down 0-2 to Switzerland at the Swissporarena in Luzerne and Cani replaced Erjon Bogdani in the fifty-fifth minute. On 12th October 2012 Albania were defeated 1-2 by Iceland at the Qemal Stafa Stadium in Tirana with Cani scoring Albania's only goal in the twenty-ninth minute for his third international goal, before being replaced by Erjon Bogdani with five minutes left on the clock. Four days later, at the same venue Albania scored a 1-0 win over Slovenia with Cani starting before being replaced by Debatik Curri after seventy-five minutes. There was a friendly with Cameroon which took place at the Geneva Stadium in Switzerland and ended in a 0-0 draw, with Bekim Balaj replacing Cani after seventy-eight minutes on 14th November 2012. This was followed by another 2014 World Cup, Group E qualifier with Norway at the Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo on 22nd March 2013 which saw Albania 1-0 winners as Erjon Bogdani replaced Cani in the seventy-fifth minute. Cani's third international goal came in a friendly with Lithuania four days later at the Qemal Stafa Stadium in Tirana in a 4-1 victory with Cani putting Albania 2-0 up in the thirty-seventh minute, with his fourth international goal, before Armando Sadiku replaced him after sixty-four minutes. On 23rd July 2013 he was loaned to Serie B team Carpi FC, making his debut for them in a 0-1 away loss to Reggina in the Coppa Italia on 11th August 2013. His Serie B debut was to come thirteen days later in another 0-1 loss, this time at Ternana. He had to wait until 21st September 2013 for his first goal in a 1-4 loss to Cesena, when he netted in the eighty-seventh minute after replacing Alessandro Sgrigna in the seventy-second minute. He finished the 2013-14 season having scored just one goal in nine starts and five games as a substitute, but having been substituted on eight occasions and ten times sat unused on the bench as Carpi went on to finish eighth in Serie B. By then he had already departed on loan to another Serie B side, AS Bari, on 31st January 2014, where he stayed for the rest of the season. He made his debut for them the following day, as a substitute for Stefano Sabelli, with seven minutes left on the clock, in a 1-2 defeat at Brescia. His starting debut did not come until 22nd March 2014, when he played a full game in a 0-0 draw at Crotone. His first goal came on 13th May 2014 when he scored in the second minute of a 2-1 win away to previous club Carpi. In the final match of the season he scored twice in a 4-1 win over Novara on 31st May 2014, after coming on as a fifty-third minute substitute for Richard Lugo, he scored in the sixty-second and seventy-fourth minute, which saw Bari claim seventh place and qualify for the play-offs. Cani played a full game in a 3-0 win at Crotone on 4th June which saw them through to the semi-finals. Latina were their opponents in a two legged tie for a place in the final. Cani scored in the sixty-seventh minute of the first leg, a 2-2 home draw on 8th June 2014. The return leg was played four days later at Latina and again the result was 2–2, with Cani playing the full game. Under the rules, Latina advanced as the higher placed of the two teams. While at Bari he scored four goals from seven starts and ten games as a substitute. He was twice substituted and sat unused on the bench on sixteen occasions. He brought his international caps to fifteen with four appearances in the 2013-14 season.The first three were in the Grup E qualifiers of the 2014 World Cup, the first being on 7th July 2013 at the Qemal Stafa Stadium, Tirana in a 1-1 draw with Norway when he played a full game, followed in quick succession by a 0-1 defeat by Slovenia at the Stadion Stozice in Ljubljana, on 6th September 2014, where he was replaced by Agon Mehmeti after seventy-one minutes, and four days later there was a 1-2 defeat by Iceland at the Laugardalsvollur in Reykjavik where he was replaced by Ahmed Januzi in the sixty-fourth minute. His fifteenth cap came in a 0-0 draw with Belarus in a friendly at Akdeniz Üniversitesi Stadyumu, Antalya in Turkey when he came on as a fifty-fourth minute substitute for Shkelzen Gashi. He made his debut for Catania when he started in the second game of the Serie B 2014-15 season on 7th September 2014 in the 2-3 loss at Pro Vercelli and was replaced by Sebastian Leto with seven minutes to go. On 4th October 2014 it was Cani that replaced Sebastian Leto after sixty-eight minutes but he did last long as he was dismissed five minutes later. Once he had served his suspension he became the club's regular striker alongside Emanuele Calaio, scoring his first goal on 25th October 2014 in a 3–1 victory at home to Vicenza, in the forty-ninth minute before being replaced by Mercelinho. He went on to score three goals in six starts and nine games from the bench, being substituted on four occasions and sitting unused on the bench thirteen times. On 2nd February 2015 he was loaned to Leeds United for the rest of the season. He made his debut in the home game with Brentford on 7th February 2015 when he replaced Luke Murphy with five minutes to go. He sat unused on the bench for the next three games, at Reading, at home to Millwall and at Middlesbrough before he came on as a substitute for Steve Morison at Brighton & Hove Albion, in the forty-ninth minute, and at home to Watford, when he replaced Sam Byram in the final minute, before being unused at home to Ipswich Town and then playing his fourth game as a substitute at Wigan Athletic on 7th March 2015, when he replaced Steve Morison with three minutes left. It was to be the last time he appeared on the field for Leeds as although he was on the bench at home to Nottingham Forest, and at Fulham, Blackpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers, he was one of six former Italian-based players who produced sick notes for supposed injuries as they cried off in unison on 18th April 2015 before the away game with Charlton Athletic. He returned to Catania at the end of his loan spell with Leeds.