The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had let in ten goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element holding it together to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, but then he admitted that the management had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that his departure was imminent were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club became as messy on the pitch as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining first five games, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, observers have struggled to ascertain if progress is being made or imploding.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Presence
At least one man remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio during this campaign. He spent last season on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his parent club were advocating for him to remain there temporarily. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster with no new signings.
He joined originally during Sarri's previous tenure, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
Perhaps the manager was still trying to determine the nature of the player's talent. Billed as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
