The feeling at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had allowed 10 goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever a binding element holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, before he admitted that the management had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic on the pitch as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it has been hard to tell if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Return
One individual continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He was on the last one with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there a while longer. The signing restriction forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster with no new signings.
He signed initially under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances with the club in 2022-23, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Finding His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to work out the exact type of the player's talent. Originally described as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
