The feeling at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had allowed a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element keeping it intact in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, only for him to later acknowledge that the club had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Rumours that he could resign were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic during matches as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Comeback
At least one man continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio during this campaign. He spent the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were advocating for him to stay there a while longer. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league for Lazio in 2022-23, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to determine the exact type of the player's talent. Originally described as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
