Matteo Cancellieri Displays Brief Sparks of Exceptional Talent in Bright Spot for Haywire Lazio
The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had conceded ten goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or had there never been any cohesion holding it together from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, only for him admitted that the club had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Speculation that his departure was imminent were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio became as messy during matches as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other initial five matches, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it has been hard to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Unexpected Return
One individual kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his owning club were attempting to remain there a while longer. The signing restriction forced a rethink. They were unable to thin their squad with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the specific characteristics of his skill set. Billed as a wide forward on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
