The feeling at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign falling apart, or did there exist any cohesion keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, but then he publicly stated that the club had not mentioned the transfer ban they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized during matches as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, observers have struggled to determine if progress is being made or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Return
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed 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 parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay temporarily. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad with no new signings.
He signed initially during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in 2022-23, almost all of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Uncovering His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to work out the exact type of his skill set. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
