The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress unraveling, or had there never been a binding element keeping it intact in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, before he admitted that the management had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized during matches as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, observers have struggled to ascertain if progress is being made or imploding.
Cancellieri's Surprising Return
A single player continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He completed the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were pushing for him to stay there a while longer. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to work out the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Labeled as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
