Matteo Cancellieri Demonstrates Glimpses of Genius in Positive Aspect for Unstable Lazio
The feeling at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had conceded a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding 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 a thread maintaining its structure from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, before he to later acknowledge that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic in their performances as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to tell if they're getting better or imploding.
Matteo's Unforeseen Presence
At least one man kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this year. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were advocating for him to remain there a while longer. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He signed originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Discovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to determine the exact type of the player's talent. Originally described as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
