The mood at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded ten goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been any cohesion maintaining its structure from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, before he admitted that the management had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were facing for financial irregularities. Reports that he might quit were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized during matches as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Return
One individual remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this season. He spent the last one on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there for another season. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team without replacements.
He signed in the first place under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league with the club in 2022-23, almost all of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Finding His True Position
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to work out the nature of the player's talent. Labeled as a wide forward upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
