The atmosphere at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded ten goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or was there ever a thread holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, before he publicly stated that the club had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Rumours that he might quit were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized in their performances as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unexpected Return
One individual kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed last season with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were pushing for him to remain there temporarily. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster without replacements.
He joined originally when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to work out the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
