The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Had their campaign falling apart, or did there exist a thread keeping it intact from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, only for him to later acknowledge that the club 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 not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to ascertain if they're getting better or self-destructing.
Matteo's Surprising Return
A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, Lazio were pushing for him to remain there temporarily. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He joined originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances with the club in 2022-23, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Uncovering His True Position
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to identify the nature of the player's talent. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
