The atmosphere at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had let in ten goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or was there ever a thread holding it together to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, before he admitted that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized during matches as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if they're getting better or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Unexpected Return
At least one man kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio this season. He was on the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were advocating for him to extend his stay for another season. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. They were unable to thin their squad with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances with the club in 2022-23, all but one of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Uncovering His True Position
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to work out the exact type of the player's talent. Labeled as a wide forward upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
