The mood at their home stadium was anything but joyful this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or did there exist a binding element holding it together from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, but then he admitted that the board had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Speculation that he could resign were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic during matches as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to determine if they're getting better or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Presence
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were pushing for him to stay there a while longer. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. They were unable to reduce their roster lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances with the club in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to work out the specific characteristics of his skill set. Billed as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
