Matteo Cancellieri Demonstrates Glimpses of Genius in Silver Lining for Haywire Lazio
The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a side that had allowed 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign falling apart, or was there ever any cohesion holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, only for him to later acknowledge that the management had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were facing for financial irregularities. Reports that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio became as messy in their performances as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Presence
At least one man continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this season. He was on last season on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there a while longer. The registration embargo forced a rethink. They were unable to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He joined originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league with the club in that campaign, all but one of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to work out the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Labeled as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
