Matteo Cancellieri Displays Glimpses of Brilliance in Positive Aspect for Haywire Lazio
The mood at their home stadium was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had let in ten goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season unraveling, or was there ever any cohesion holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Rumours that he might quit were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio became as messy in their performances as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it's been difficult to tell if progress is being made or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Return
A single player remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio this year. He spent the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to remain there for another season. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. They were unable to thin their squad with no new signings.
He joined originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Finding His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the exact type of his skill set. Billed as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
