Matteo Cancellieri Demonstrates Brief Sparks of Brilliance in Positive Aspect for Struggling Lazio
The feeling at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or had there never been a thread maintaining its structure to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, before he admitted that the management had not mentioned a registration embargo they were facing for fiscal problems. Speculation that he might quit were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized in their performances as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, it has been hard to tell if progress is being made or collapsing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Presence
At least one man kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this season. He completed last season at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his parent club were advocating for him to remain there a while longer. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He joined initially under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Finding His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was still trying to determine the exact type of his skill set. Labeled as a wide forward upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
