Matteo Cancellieri Displays Flashing Moments of Brilliance in Bright Spot for Haywire Lazio
The mood at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had let in ten goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or had there never been any cohesion maintaining its structure from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, but then he admitted that the board had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Reports that he might quit were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
Matteo's Unexpected Presence
One individual remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He was on the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were attempting to remain there a while longer. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. They were unable to weaken their team with no new signings.
He joined originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to identify the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
