The feeling at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had let in a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or had there never been a binding element keeping it intact from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, but then he admitted that the club had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Reports that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized in their performances as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it has been hard to tell if progress is being made or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Comeback
A single player remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on last season with Parma on loan and, early this summer, Lazio were pushing for him to stay there a while longer. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. They were unable to thin their squad with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 league appearances for Lazio in 2022-23, almost all of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Discovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to determine the nature of the player's talent. Labeled as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn