Matteo Cancellieri Demonstrates Brief Sparks of Exceptional Talent in Bright Spot for Unstable Lazio
The mood at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had allowed ten goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element maintaining its structure in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, before he publicly stated that the board had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Rumours that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti became as messy in their performances as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their initial five matches, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if they are improving or collapsing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Return
At least one man remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He spent the last one with Parma on loan and, early this summer, Lazio were pushing for him to remain there temporarily. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad without replacements.
He joined initially when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league with the club in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to determine the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
