The mood at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had let in ten goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or did there exist a binding element keeping it intact from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he admitted that the management had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Reports that his departure was imminent were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic in their performances as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to determine if progress is being made or imploding.
Matteo's Unexpected Return
At least one man remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this season. He completed last season on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster without replacements.
He signed initially when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league with the club in 2022-23, all but one of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Best Role
It's possible the coach was still trying to work out the nature of the player's talent. Originally described as a wide forward on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
