The feeling at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded ten goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or had there never been a binding element maintaining its structure to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, only for him to later acknowledge that the club had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that he could resign were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized in their performances as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to determine if they're getting better or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Return
At least one man continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on the last one on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The signing restriction forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He signed initially during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Discovering His True Position
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to determine the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
