By Soccer Analytics
Bologna midfielder Tommaso Pobega has appeared in just two Serie A matches this season, contributing zero goals and zero assists for a side that finds itself eighth in the table on 48 points — and the 26-year-old's marginal status is becoming impossible to ignore as Vincenzo Italiano's squad chases European glory on two fronts.
The numbers are blunt. Two appearances. An average rating of 6.50. An AI overall score of 57 out of 100, with a ceiling assessed at 62. For a player born in July 1999 and entering what should be the first peak years of his career, those figures describe a footballer who is present in the squad but absent from the conversation. Bologna have won 14, drawn 6, and lost 12 in the league — a respectable mid-table grind — but Pobega has contributed almost nothing to that arithmetic.
The backdrop makes his invisibility more striking. Italiano's Bologna are simultaneously navigating a Europa League quarter-final against Aston Villa, trailing 3-1 from the first leg. Italiano himself described the second leg at Villa Park as "mission impossible," invoking Tom Cruise with the kind of gallows humour coaches deploy when they want their players loose. A squad stretched across European and domestic commitments is precisely the environment where fringe players earn minutes. Pobega has not seized that opening.
Meanwhile, the coach orchestrating all of this may not be around much longer. Multiple clubs within Italian football are reportedly monitoring Italiano's situation, which adds another layer of instability to Bologna's project. If a managerial change arrives in the summer, Pobega's position — already precarious under a coach who clearly does not prioritise him — becomes even harder to read.
The Milan draw is worth noting for context. Bologna drew 2-2 against AC Milan, with Riccardo Orsolini converting a penalty to level. The rossoblù showed they can compete against top opposition. Pobega's name was not part of that narrative.
At 57/100 with a projected ceiling of 62, the analytics suggest a solid but unspectacular Serie A contributor — a player who can function in a system but is unlikely to define one. That assessment tracks with what the season has shown. Bologna do not lack for midfield options, and Pobega has not forced Italiano's hand.
The Europa League exit, if it comes at Villa Park, will reset Bologna's priorities sharply. A summer of decisions awaits — on the coach, on the squad shape, on which players belong in a top-half Serie A project. Pobega needs to be part of those conversations in a way he simply has not been this season, or the 2026-27 campaign will arrive with his future already written elsewhere.