The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was far from happy this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had allowed 10 goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been any cohesion maintaining its structure from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, but then he admitted that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Reports that he could resign were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic on the pitch as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to determine if they're getting better or self-destructing.
Matteo's Surprising Presence
A single player continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were pushing for him to stay there a while longer. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster lacking backup options.
He joined in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to identify the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a wide forward on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
