The mood at their home stadium was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a side that had conceded ten goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or did there exist a thread keeping it intact to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, before he publicly stated that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Speculation that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio became as messy on the pitch as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other initial five matches, which included the capital clash. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to determine if they are improving or imploding.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Return
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to remain with Lazio this year. He spent the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there for another season. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in 2022-23, all but one of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Discovering His True Position
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to identify the exact type of the player's talent. Labeled as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
