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The mood at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had allowed a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.

The Campaign Coming Unstitched?

Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been a binding element holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, but then he admitted that the club had not mentioned the transfer ban they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that his departure was imminent were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.

The Roman club became as messy in their performances as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their initial five matches, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, observers have struggled to ascertain if progress is being made or collapsing.

The Youngster's Unexpected Comeback

At least one man remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this season. He spent the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to extend his stay temporarily. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. They were unable to thin their squad lacking backup options.

He signed initially when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."

Finding His True Position

It's possible the coach was persistently working to determine the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn