Matteo Cancellieri Demonstrates Glimpses of Exceptional Talent in Bright Spot for Haywire Lazio
The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had allowed ten goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season unraveling, or was there ever a thread holding it together in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, only for him publicly stated that the board had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Reports that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club became as messy during matches as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if progress is being made or imploding.
Matteo's Surprising Comeback
One individual continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio this year. He was on the last one on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his parent club were pushing for him to remain there temporarily. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He signed in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, the vast majority of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Best Role
It's possible the coach was persistently working to determine the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
