Cancellieri Shows Brief Sparks of Exceptional Talent in Silver Lining for Unstable Lazio
The mood at Lazio's home ground was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had allowed 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or had there never been a thread keeping it intact from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, before he to later acknowledge that the club had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Rumours that he might quit were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic on the pitch as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Return
A single player kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this season. He was on last season on loan at Parma and, early this summer, Lazio were pushing for him to stay there for another season. The signing restriction forced a rethink. They were unable to reduce their roster lacking backup options.
He signed originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to determine the nature of the player's talent. Labeled as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
