The mood at Lazio's home ground was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded ten goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was the team's progress unraveling, or was there ever any cohesion keeping it intact from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, before he admitted that the management had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were facing for financial irregularities. Speculation that he might quit were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio became as messy in their performances as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to ascertain if they are improving or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Presence
A single player remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He was on the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay temporarily. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He joined initially when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Discovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to work out the exact type of the player's talent. Originally described as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
