Como midfielder Jayden Osei Addai enters the 2026-27 pre-season as a 20-year-old with three Serie A goals from 12 appearances last term and an average match rating of 6.90 — numbers that describe a player still finding the edges of his game, but doing so inside a club that has just spent a pre-season evening holding Arsenal level at the Emirates Stadium before losing on penalties.
That result, and the context surrounding it, is the sharpest lens through which to read Osei Addai's situation. Como finished 2025-26 fourth in Serie A with 71 points from 38 matches — 20 wins, 11 draws, 7 defeats, 65 goals scored and only 29 conceded. A defence that tight, and a points total that high, signals a club operating with genuine structural discipline under Fà bregas. For a young midfielder rated at 50 overall with a projected ceiling of 68, that environment is either the best possible classroom or a competitive filter that will demand more than incremental improvement.
The pre-season trip to north London offered a concrete measure of Como's ambitions. Fà bregas, returning to Arsenal as a coach, described his side as needing to show character — and the 1-1 draw in regulation, with Baturina's goal cancelling out the opener, suggested the squad has the composure to compete at that level for stretches. The penalty defeat does not diminish that. What it does is clarify the gap between matching elite opposition in a friendly and doing so across a European campaign.
Osei Addai's role in that larger picture is still being defined. Three goals in 12 Serie A appearances is a reasonable return for a midfielder of his age and profile, but the absence of a single assist points to a player who is finishing moves rather than constructing them — or one whose creative output is not yet translating into the final pass. At 6.90 per game, his average rating sits in the functional rather than influential range. He is contributing without yet dictating.
The question for FÃ bregas's Como is whether Osei Addai earns a larger share of minutes in a season that will stretch across European fixtures and a Serie A campaign where fourth place will need defending. His AI potential of 68 suggests the ceiling is meaningful but not yet reached, and the gap between his current rating and that ceiling is precisely where this season will be contested.
Como's defensive solidity — 29 goals conceded across 38 league matches — gives the midfield a platform to take risks. Whether Osei Addai is trusted to take them is the question that will define his 2026-27.