The mood at Lazio's home ground was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or was there ever a binding element maintaining its structure to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, but then he admitted that the club had not mentioned a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Rumours that he could resign were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio became as messy in their performances as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if progress is being made or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Comeback
At least one man continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed the last one with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster lacking backup options.
He signed in the first place under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His True Position
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to determine the nature of the player's talent. Labeled as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
