The feeling at their home stadium 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 wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever a thread holding it together to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic during matches as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, observers have struggled to determine if they are improving or imploding.
Matteo's Unforeseen Return
One individual continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this year. He completed the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, his owning club were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The transfer ban forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team with no new signings.
He joined initially during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Uncovering His Best Role
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to determine the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
