The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had allowed ten goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been a thread holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, but then he admitted that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Reports that he could resign were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized during matches as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if they're getting better or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Return
One individual kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this year. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were advocating for him to extend his stay for another season. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team without replacements.
He joined in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league with the club in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Finding His True Position
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to determine the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Originally described as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
