The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had let in 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or had there never been any cohesion keeping it intact to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, before he to later acknowledge that the management had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that he could resign were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized during matches as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if they are improving or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
One individual continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this year. He completed the last one on loan at Parma and, early this summer, Lazio were advocating for him to stay there temporarily. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He joined originally under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to work out the nature of the player's talent. Labeled as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
