The mood at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had conceded 10 goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or had there never been a thread holding it together in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, before he to later acknowledge that the management had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were about to receive for accounting issues. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized during matches as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it has been hard to tell if they are improving or collapsing.
Matteo's Unexpected Presence
One individual kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this season. He was on the last one with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were pushing for him to remain there a while longer. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster with no new signings.
He signed in the first place under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league with the club in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to work out the nature of the player's talent. Labeled as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
