Cancellieri Shows Flashing Moments of Brilliance in Silver Lining for Struggling Lazio
The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had conceded a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Was the team's progress unraveling, or had there never been a thread keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were facing for fiscal problems. Reports that he might quit were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other first five games, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Comeback
At least one man remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this season. He spent the last one with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were attempting to extend his stay temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Best Role
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the nature of his skill set. Billed as a wide forward on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
