The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or was there ever a thread maintaining its structure in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, but then he admitted that the board had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Rumours that he could resign were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic on the pitch as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or imploding.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Presence
One individual continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this season. He spent the last one on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, Lazio were advocating for him to remain there temporarily. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He signed in the first place under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to identify the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
