The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed ten goals while scoring only 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 president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been any cohesion keeping it intact from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, only for him publicly stated that the management had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were facing for financial irregularities. Rumours that he could resign were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club became as messy on the pitch as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if progress is being made or collapsing.
Matteo's Surprising Return
At least one man continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this year. He spent the last one with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. They were unable to weaken their team without replacements.
He joined initially under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances with the club in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Uncovering His True Position
Perhaps the manager was still trying to work out the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
