Cancellieri Displays Flashing Moments of Exceptional Talent in Bright Spot for Unstable Lazio
The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had let in a total of 10 goals while scoring only two 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.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or had there never been any cohesion holding it together from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, but then he to later acknowledge that the club had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Reports that he could resign were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club became as messy during matches as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining first five games, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it has been hard to tell if they are improving or collapsing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Presence
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on the last one with Parma on loan and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there for another season. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to weaken their team with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Uncovering His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was still trying to identify the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
