The feeling at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had conceded ten goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element maintaining its structure from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, only for him publicly stated that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Reports that he could resign were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio became as messy on the pitch as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, observers have struggled to tell if progress is being made or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Return
At least one man continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He spent the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, early this summer, Lazio were attempting to stay there temporarily. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He joined in the first place under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances with the club in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Uncovering His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to determine the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
