The mood at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded ten goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or had there never been any cohesion keeping it intact from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, before he admitted that the club had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were facing for fiscal problems. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic in their performances as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to tell if they're getting better or collapsing.
A single player remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio during this campaign. He spent the last one at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were attempting to stay there for another season. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He joined in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to work out the exact type of the player's talent. Originally described as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
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