The atmosphere at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had conceded a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress unraveling, or was there ever a binding element holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, before he to later acknowledge that the club had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were about to receive for accounting issues. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, observers have struggled to tell if progress is being made or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
At least one man continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He completed last season with Parma on loan and, early this summer, his parent club were advocating for him to remain there a while longer. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to weaken their team without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in 2022-23, all but one of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Uncovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to determine the exact type of his skill set. Billed as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
