Arkadiusz Milik's heir he is not — but Thijs Dallinga, Bologna's 25-year-old Dutch forward, now enters the 2025-26 season carrying the rossoblù attack in a way the previous campaign never required of him. Santiago Castro has departed for Roma, Artem Dovbyk arrives from the capital in the opposite direction, and the squad around Dallinga has been remade with enough velocity to suggest Vincenzo Italiano's Bologna are not finished reshaping.
The so-what is this: Dallinga's 2025-26 numbers — two goals and two assists across 22 Serie A appearances, an average rating of 6.50 — describe a player who contributed without dominating. That is a reasonable return for a squad player sharing minutes with Castro. It is a thin platform for a first-choice striker.
Bologna finished the season eighth, on 55 points from 37 matches, with 46 goals scored. That is a functional total, not a prolific one, and the departure of Castro — who was the subject of direct negotiations between the clubs before his move was confirmed — removes a forward who had become a genuine focal point of the attack. Dovbyk's arrival reframes the picture rather than simply filling the gap: the Ukrainian is a different profile, a more static target, and his integration under new head coach Davide Tedesco at Roma had been difficult enough that a fresh start in Emilia carries its own uncertainty.
Where does that leave Dallinga? His AI overall rating of 56 out of 100, with a potential ceiling of 68, suggests a player the data models regard as capable of meaningful improvement — not a finished article, but not a stopgap either. The gap between current and potential is the most interesting number in his profile. Whether Italiano can close it depends on how consistently Dallinga starts, and how the Dovbyk signing is used: as a partner, a rotation option, or the outright first choice.
Bologna have also added a midfield presence in Amondarain from Estudiantes, and are reportedly close to losing defender Jhon Lucumí to Como. The squad is in flux, which creates opportunity as much as instability. For a forward with Dallinga's profile — young enough to develop, experienced enough to contribute immediately — a club in transition can be exactly the right environment, provided the minutes follow.
The 2026-27 season will tell us whether Dallinga is Bologna's striker or one of Bologna's strikers. The distinction matters enormously for a player whose numbers have been quietly solid without ever being decisive.