Cancellieri Demonstrates Brief Sparks of Exceptional Talent in Bright Spot for Struggling Lazio
The feeling at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had conceded 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or did there exist a thread holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he to later acknowledge that the management had not mentioned the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Speculation that his departure was imminent were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club became as messy during matches as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their initial five matches, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if they are improving or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Comeback
One individual kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this season. He spent the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his owning club were pushing for him to extend his stay for another season. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
He joined originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was still trying to work out the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
