The mood at Lazio's home ground was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had allowed ten goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Had their campaign falling apart, or was there ever a binding element keeping it intact from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, before he admitted that the club had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that he could resign were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio became as messy in their performances as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to determine if they are improving or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Surprising Return
A single player continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He spent last season on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to extend his stay temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad without replacements.
He signed in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Finding His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was still trying to determine the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
