Samuele Ricci, the Como midfielder, arrived at a club with ambition and a coach who knows exactly what a composed central midfielder is worth — and through three matches of the 2026-27 Serie A season, the 25-year-old is beginning to understand the scale of what Cesc Fàbregas is building around him.

The broader context sharpens the picture. Como sit third in Serie A with seven points from three matches, having won two and drawn one, scoring seven goals and conceding three. That is not a team finding its feet; it is a team with a defined identity. Fàbregas has been explicit that the league is the priority — not the Champions League, not the noise around the club's rapid ascent — and that clarity of purpose filters down to every position, including the one Ricci occupies at the base of midfield.

Ricci's individual numbers from his one league appearance this season are modest in the conventional sense: no goals, no assists, a rating of 6.43. But that framing misses the point of what a midfielder in his role is asked to do. His value is structural. He is the player who decides the tempo, who absorbs pressure before it reaches the defence, who gives the more expressive players around him the freedom to create. The 4-1 comeback win away against Genoa — a result that prompted Genoa coach Daniele De Rossi to describe Como as the most impressive opponent he had faced since taking charge — did not happen because of individual brilliance alone. It happened because Como's shape held under early pressure, which is precisely the kind of environment where a disciplined central midfielder earns his wage without appearing in the highlights.

His AI overall of 75 out of 100, with a potential of 82, suggests a player whose ceiling has not yet been reached at 25. That gap between current output and projected ceiling is where the season becomes interesting. Fàbregas, who built his own career on reading space and distributing under pressure, is not a coach who wastes that kind of profile. The system demands intelligence over athleticism, positioning over pressing volume — qualities that suit Ricci's game and that a 25-year-old should be refining, not still discovering.

The market has noticed. A summer assessment that ranked Como among the surprise packages of the transfer window placed Ricci within a squad being constructed with genuine care, not just financial muscle. Whether that recognition translates into a breakout statistical season depends partly on how many minutes Fàbregas trusts him with as the fixture list intensifies.

For now, Como are third, unbeaten, and playing football that has already unsettled one of the league's more organised sides. Ricci is part of that foundation — and foundations, by definition, only matter when the structure above them holds.