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The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had allowed a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.

A Season Coming Unstitched?

Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or had there never been any cohesion keeping it intact in the first place? The club brought back 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 set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Rumours that he might quit were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.

The Roman club appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if they are improving or collapsing.

The Youngster's Unforeseen Return

One individual kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to stay there temporarily. The registration embargo forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad without replacements.

He joined in the first place under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in 2022-23, almost all of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."

Uncovering His Best Role

Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to identify the nature of the player's talent. Billed as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn