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The atmosphere at their home stadium was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had let in ten goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.

A Season Unraveling?

Was the team's progress unraveling, or had there never been any cohesion holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, before he publicly stated that the management had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Rumours that he might quit were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.

Lazio became as messy in their performances as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to tell if they're getting better or collapsing.

The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback

At least one man kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed 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 owning club were advocating for him to stay there a while longer. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to weaken their team 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 made 20 Serie A appearances with the club in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."

Discovering His True Position

Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to determine the exact type of the player's talent. Originally described as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn