The mood at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had conceded 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Had their campaign falling apart, or did there exist a thread holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, before he to later acknowledge that the club had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were about to receive for accounting issues. Rumours that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic during matches as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their initial five matches, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
A single player kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He spent the last one at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were advocating for him to stay there for another season. The transfer ban forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster with no new signings.
He signed initially during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in 2022-23, all but one of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Uncovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to identify the exact type of his skill set. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
