The feeling at their home stadium was anything but joyful this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had let in a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign falling apart, or had there never been a thread keeping it intact in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, but then he to later acknowledge that the management had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Rumours that he might quit were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized during matches as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other initial five matches, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
The Youngster's Surprising Return
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio this year. He completed last season at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were advocating for him to remain there temporarily. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. They were unable to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He joined initially when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league with the club in 2022-23, all but one of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Uncovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to determine the exact type of his skill set. Labeled as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
