The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had let in 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or did there exist a thread keeping it intact in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized in their performances as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if progress is being made or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Return
One individual kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to remain with Lazio this year. He spent the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were pushing for him to remain there for another season. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. They were unable to weaken their team lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived originally when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league with the club in 2022-23, all but one of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Finding His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to determine the nature of his skill set. Originally described as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
