Matteo Cancellieri Demonstrates Brief Sparks of Brilliance in Positive Aspect for Haywire Lazio
The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had let in 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element keeping it intact in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, but then he publicly stated that the board had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic in their performances as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to tell if they're getting better or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Presence
A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this season. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his parent club were advocating for him to stay there temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. They were unable to thin their squad without replacements.
He signed originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to identify the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Billed as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
