Como midfielder Máximo Perrone enters the international break having contributed zero goals and zero assists across three Serie A matches in 2026-27, yet the lariani sit sixth in the table with seven points from three unbeaten games — and have just announced themselves to European football with a 4-1 victory over RB Leipzig in the Champions League. The 23-year-old Argentine is, for now, a supporting actor in a production that keeps stealing headlines without him.
The tension in that sentence is the story. Como under Fàbregas are not merely surviving at this level; they are thriving loudly enough that Alessandro Del Piero has praised the club's Champions League debut and Thierry Henry has been moved to comment on individual performances. Perrone's name is not in those conversations. At a club where the noise is growing by the week, quiet midfielders must justify their presence through what the eye cannot always catch.
His average rating of 6.73 across three Serie A appearances is functional rather than distinguished — enough to hold a place, not enough to demand one. An AI overall of 72 out of 100, with a potential of 78, suggests a player whose ceiling remains meaningfully above his current output, but ceilings are theoretical. What matters in September is whether Fàbregas trusts Perrone enough to keep him central as the fixture list grows heavier.
That fixture list is the sharpest context here. Como face Parma next in Serie A, and Fàbregas has already addressed rotation questions publicly, citing the form of Diao and Baturina — two players whose names are circulating in entirely different registers than Perrone's. Diao, fresh from the Leipzig performance, is reportedly in line for a contract extension through 2031. Baturina earned a mention from Henry on international television. Perrone, meanwhile, is managing the unglamorous arithmetic of a midfield that must now compete across two competitions.
There is no crisis here, and it would be wrong to manufacture one. Como are unbeaten, scoring freely, and conceding sparingly. A midfielder averaging 6.73 in a team that has conceded just three times in three matches is doing something right, even if the scoresheet does not record it. The Argentine's value, if it exists in the way his profile suggests it might, lives in the spaces between goals — in the sequences that allow Diao to run and Baturina to arrive late.
The question Fàbregas must answer against Parma is whether Perrone earns his place in a rotation that is about to be tested seriously. Seven points from three matches is a foundation. What Como build on it will determine whether Perrone's role expands or contracts as the season deepens.