The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or was there ever any cohesion keeping it intact in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, before he publicly stated that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Reports that he could resign were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic in their performances as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if progress is being made or imploding.
Matteo's Unforeseen Presence
A single player continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He was on the last one on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, his owning club were attempting to extend his stay a while longer. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. They were unable to reduce their roster without replacements.
He joined in the first place under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances with the club in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Finding His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Labeled as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
