Matteo Cancellieri Shows Glimpses of Brilliance in Positive Aspect for Haywire Lazio
The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or did there exist a thread holding it together from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, only for him admitted that the management had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Speculation that he might quit were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if they're getting better or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Surprising Return
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio during this campaign. He was on the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were advocating for him to stay there temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived initially under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, the vast majority of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His True Position
It's possible the coach was still trying to work out the exact type of his skill set. Originally described as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
