The mood at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had let in 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element holding it together to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, before he admitted that the management had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were facing for accounting issues. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as they were off it, defeating 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 has been hard to ascertain if they're getting better or collapsing.
Matteo's Unexpected Presence
One individual kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were pushing for him to stay there a while longer. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived originally under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in 2022-23, all but one of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to identify the exact type of the player's talent. Labeled as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
