The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had allowed ten goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club became as messy in their performances as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it has been hard to ascertain if they're getting better or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Surprising Return
A single player kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He completed last season at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, Lazio were pushing for him to extend his stay temporarily. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. They were unable to reduce their roster with no new signings.
He joined originally when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to determine the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a wide forward upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
