🔗 Share this article

The mood at Lazio's home ground was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had let in 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.

The Campaign Coming Unstitched?

Was the team's progress falling apart, or was there ever a binding element holding it together in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, but then he admitted that the board had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were facing for fiscal problems. Speculation that his departure was imminent were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.

The Roman club appeared equally disorganized during matches as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining first five games, which included the capital clash. Throughout this period, it has been hard to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.

The Youngster's Unexpected Return

One individual continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his parent club were advocating for him to stay there a while longer. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad without replacements.

He signed originally when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."

Discovering His Best Role

Maybe Sarri was persistently working to identify the nature of his skill set. Labeled as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn