The feeling at Lazio's home ground was far from happy this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had let in ten goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or had there never been any cohesion maintaining its structure to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, before he to later acknowledge that the management had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Rumours that he might quit were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized during matches as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining initial five matches, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to tell if progress is being made or collapsing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Return
A single player remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He spent the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his owning club were pushing for him to stay there for another season. The transfer ban forced a rethink. They were unable to reduce their roster lacking backup options.
He signed originally when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league for Lazio in 2022-23, almost all of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to determine the exact type of the player's talent. Labeled as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
