The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had allowed ten goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign falling apart, or had there never been any cohesion maintaining its structure in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, only for him to later acknowledge that the management had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Rumours that he might quit were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic in their performances as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their initial five matches, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it's been difficult to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
One individual kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio this season. He was on last season with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to extend his stay temporarily. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad without replacements.
He joined originally under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances with the club in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to work out the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a wide forward upon signing, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
