The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had allowed 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season unraveling, or did there exist a binding element maintaining its structure in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, before he to later acknowledge that the board had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were facing for accounting issues. Reports that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club became as messy in their performances as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other first five games, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it has been hard to tell if they're getting better or collapsing.
The Youngster's Surprising Return
At least one man kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He spent the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, his owning club were attempting to stay there temporarily. The transfer ban forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived initially when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league with the club in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to work out the nature of his skill set. Billed as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
