The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had let in 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or did there exist a thread maintaining its structure in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, before he admitted that the club had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were about to receive for accounting issues. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti became as messy in their performances as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to ascertain if they're getting better or imploding.
Matteo's Surprising Return
One individual continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He was on the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, his owning club were advocating for him to stay there temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team with no new signings.
He joined originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Finding His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to determine the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Originally described as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
