The feeling at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had allowed a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or had there never been a binding element holding it together from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, before he publicly stated that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were facing for accounting issues. Rumours that he could resign were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic during matches as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining initial five matches, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or collapsing.
Matteo's Surprising Return
One individual remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to remain with Lazio this year. He was on the last one on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
He joined initially when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His True Position
Perhaps the manager was still trying to identify the nature of the player's talent. Labeled as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
