The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had let in a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or did there exist a thread keeping it intact from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, only for him to later acknowledge that the management had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were facing for fiscal problems. Reports that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio became as messy in their performances as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other initial five matches, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, observers have struggled to determine if progress is being made or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unexpected Presence
One individual continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this season. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to extend his stay for another season. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. They were unable to weaken their team without replacements.
He joined initially under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league 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, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to determine the exact type of the player's talent. Labeled as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
