The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded ten goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or did there exist a thread holding it together in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, but then he to later acknowledge that the management had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Rumours that he could resign were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, it has been hard to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Unexpected Presence
One individual remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He was on the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were attempting to extend his stay temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. They were unable to weaken their team without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived originally during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in 2022-23, the vast majority of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was still trying to identify the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Billed as a wide forward on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
