The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season unraveling, or was there ever a binding element maintaining its structure from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, but then he admitted that the board had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Reports that he might quit were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized in their performances as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, observers have struggled to tell if they're getting better or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Presence
At least one man kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this season. He completed the last one at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were attempting to stay there for another season. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster lacking backup options.
He signed initially during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Finding His True Position
Maybe Sarri was still trying to work out the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
