The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had allowed a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been any cohesion holding it together from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, before he to later acknowledge that the management had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Reports that his departure was imminent were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other initial five matches, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it's been difficult to ascertain if progress is being made or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Return
At least one man continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this year. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there temporarily. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster without replacements.
He signed initially under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
Perhaps the manager was still trying to identify the nature of the player's talent. Labeled as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
