Cancellieri Displays Glimpses of Exceptional Talent in Bright Spot for Haywire Lazio
The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had allowed a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or was there ever any cohesion holding it together from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he admitted that the management had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Rumours that he might quit were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic in their performances as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, it has been hard to determine if they're getting better or imploding.
Matteo's Unforeseen Return
One individual continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this season. He spent the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were attempting to extend his stay for another season. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to thin their squad without replacements.
He joined in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Finding His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to determine the nature of his skill set. Labeled as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
