The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had let in ten goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, 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, only for him to later acknowledge that the board had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that his departure was imminent were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic in their performances as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, observers have struggled to ascertain if they are improving or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Return
At least one man remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He was on the last one on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, his parent club were attempting to stay there temporarily. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He signed initially during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to work out the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
