The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had allowed a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or had there never been a binding element maintaining its structure from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, but then he publicly stated that the board had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were about to receive for accounting issues. Reports that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic on the pitch as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. Throughout this period, observers have struggled to tell if progress is being made or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Return
A single player remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this year. He spent the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there for another season. The transfer ban forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived originally under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-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 ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Uncovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was still trying to identify the exact type of his skill set. Billed as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
