Jean Butez, Como's Belgian goalkeeper, enters the 2025-26 Serie A campaign as the last line of defence for a club that finished fourth last season and is now moving aggressively to push further. With Cesc Fàbregas's side pursuing Moise Kean from Fiorentina and opening talks over Samuele Ricci from Milan, the squad being assembled around Butez carries genuine ambition — and the goalkeeper's own profile will need to match it.

The numbers from last season establish a baseline. Across 38 Serie A matches, Butez conceded just 29 goals, a figure that reflects both his own consistency and the defensive structure Fàbregas built around him. A rating of 7.20 across the full campaign is the kind of sustained performance that earns trust rather than headlines. Como won 20, drew 11, and lost 7, accumulating 71 points — a return that placed them fourth and confirmed the club's arrival as a genuine European contender rather than a promoted side finding its feet.

The pre-season offered a different kind of examination. Como faced Liverpool in two friendlies, drawing one and losing the other — the defeat coming at Anfield, where Gakpo and Jacquet scored. Neither result carries competitive weight, but the level of opposition was deliberate. Fàbregas has consistently used the summer to test his squad against elite resistance, and Butez was part of that process throughout.

What the transfer activity signals is that Como intend to attack the top three rather than consolidate fourth. Kean, if secured, would give Fàbregas a striker capable of converting the chances that a well-organised defensive unit generates. Ricci would add control in midfield. Both signings would reduce the pressure on Butez to be the difference-maker and instead allow him to operate within a more complete team — which, for a goalkeeper rated 76 out of 100 by the club's own metrics, is the environment where he is most effective.

At 31, Butez is at the age where goalkeepers tend to reach their clearest understanding of the position. The reflexes may no longer be developing, but the reading of the game, the communication with the defensive line, the management of set-pieces — these compound with experience. A goalkeeper who concedes fewer than a goal per match across a full Serie A season is not a weak point in need of reinforcement; he is a foundation worth building on.

The question for 2025-26 is whether the squad constructed around him can reduce the moments when Butez is required to be exceptional. If Como land Kean and Ricci, the answer tilts toward yes. If the transfer window closes without those additions, the burden on the goalkeeper — and on the defensive unit as a whole — remains exactly what it was last season: significant, and so far well-managed.