The atmosphere at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had let in a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or had there never been any cohesion holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he admitted that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Rumours that he might quit were not true, but he acknowledged 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. Throughout this period, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Comeback
One individual remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this season. He spent last season on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, Lazio were advocating for him to remain there a while longer. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad with no new signings.
He joined in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league with the club in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Finding His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was still trying to work out the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
