The mood at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had allowed ten goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or was there ever a thread holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had not mentioned the transfer ban they were facing for financial irregularities. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio became as messy in their performances as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Presence
A single player kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on last season on loan at Parma and, early this summer, Lazio were advocating for him to remain there a while longer. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances for Lazio in 2022-23, almost all of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His True Position
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to determine the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a wide forward upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
