Matteo Cancellieri
- Simon Basten
- Nov 6
- 2 min read
Matteo Cancellieri was born in Rome on February 12, 2002.
He started playing football with Roma at 16 and in 2021 was sold to Verona in the deal that brought Marash Kumbulla to the capital. That season he played for the Primavera scoring 15 goals in 18 games. He did so well that in the following season he was called to the first team making his Serie A debut on August 21. He made 14 appearances with two goals and in 2022-23 he was sold to Lazio.
He impressed in the pre-season training and started to be one of the main players put in by Maurizio Sarri in the second half. One could see that he had quality but he slowly lost faith in himself and was unable to make the first team regularly. He made 30 appearances but did not impress. In 2023-24 he was loaned to Empoli playing 36 games and scoring four goals, the last of which against Roma in the final match guaranteeing their survival in Serie A. Back at Lazio for pre-training, he was then loaned to Parma where he did very well, making 27 appearances with 3 goals.
In 2025-26 he returned to the capital and was probably going to be sold but the fact that the club were not allowed to make any signings for financial reasons translated in him staying. Furthermore, Gustav Isaksen fell ill and Cancellieri earned a first eleven role for the beginning of the season.
Despite the fact that many believed him to be not up to par with Serie A level, he proved everybody wrong and played a good first couple of months, scoring three goals.
In Nazionale he has played 12 times for the Under 21s, with 4 goals, and even debuted with the National Team in a Nations League game against Germany.
Cancellieri in the youth teams was a forward and Sarri saw him as a possible replacement for Ciro Immobile. But he has since blossomed as a winger and what he has shown so far in the 2025-26 season is very, very promising.
Season | Total Appearances (goals) | Serie A | Europa League | Conference League |
2022-23 | 30 | 20 | 6 | 4 |
2025-26 | 6 (3) | 6 (3) | - | - |
Total | 36 (3) | 26 (3) | 6 | 4 |
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