The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded ten goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or had there never been a thread keeping it intact from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, but then he to later acknowledge that the club had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Reports that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Return
One individual remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio during this campaign. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his parent club were advocating for him to stay there temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
He signed in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
Perhaps the manager was still trying to identify the exact type of the player's talent. Billed as a wide forward on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
