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The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded ten goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.

A Season Coming Unstitched?

Was Lazio's season unraveling, or was there ever a thread holding it together in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, before he to later acknowledge that the club had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Speculation that his departure was imminent were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.

The Biancocelesti became as messy on the pitch as they were off it, defeating 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, observers have struggled to ascertain if they're getting better or self-destructing.

The Youngster's Unexpected Return

One individual kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio this year. He was on last season at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were advocating for him to remain there a while longer. The registration embargo forced a rethink. They were unable to reduce their roster without replacements.

He joined in the first place under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."

Discovering His Best Role

Perhaps the manager was still trying to identify the exact type of the player's talent. Originally described as a wide forward upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn