The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had conceded ten goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or was there ever a thread maintaining its structure in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, before he to later acknowledge that the board had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Rumours that he might quit were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other first five games, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to ascertain if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Comeback
One individual remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He completed the last one with Parma on loan and, early this summer, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to weaken their team with no new signings.
He joined in the first place under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances with the club in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to work out the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
