The feeling at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever a thread keeping it intact in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, before he to later acknowledge that the board had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were facing for fiscal problems. Reports that he might quit were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if they're getting better or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Return
At least one man remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to remain with Lazio this year. He was on the last one on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, his parent club were advocating for him to stay there a while longer. The transfer ban forced a rethink. They were unable to thin their squad with no new signings.
He signed initially under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances with the club in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to identify the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Labeled as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
