The mood at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded ten goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress 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, but then he to later acknowledge that the management had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Speculation that he might quit were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if they're getting better or imploding.
Matteo's Unforeseen Return
A single player continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He completed the last one with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, his parent club were pushing for him to extend his stay for another season. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. They were unable to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He joined in the first place under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league with the club in that campaign, the vast majority of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to identify the exact type of the player's talent. Labeled as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
