The feeling at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or had there never been a binding element maintaining its structure to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, only for him admitted that the board had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Rumours that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio became as messy on the pitch as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, observers have struggled to determine if they're getting better or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Return
A single player continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this year. He completed the last one with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, his parent club were pushing for him to extend his stay a while longer. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad with no new signings.
He joined originally when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances with the club in 2022-23, the vast majority of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to work out the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
