Cagliari midfielder Alessandro Romano enters the final hours of the summer transfer window with his club's Serie A 2026-27 campaign already two matches old, one win and one defeat banked, and his own name conspicuously absent from the scoresheet in either direction. The 20-year-old has featured in both of Fabio Pisacane's opening selections, averaging a rating of 6.90 across those appearances — functional, present, but not yet decisive.
The so-what is straightforward: Romano is a young midfielder at a club sitting twelfth in Serie A with three points, operating inside a transfer window that has Cagliari's name circulating in connection with at least one incoming deal. That external noise is the last thing a player with an AI overall of 61 out of 100 and a potential of 72 needs when the priority is accumulating minutes and sharpening his game against top-level opposition.
The defeat to Inter illustrated the gap Romano and his teammates must close. Hakan Calhanoglu's goal — his second in as many Serie A matches — was enough to settle the contest at the Unipol Domus, with Pisacane's side unable to find a response. The result was tight in scoreline, 0-1, but the identity of the scorer underlined the quality differential: a midfielder of Calhanoglu's authority punishing any hesitation in transition. For Romano, watching that from the same pitch is an education that no training session replicates.
His Coppa Italia appearance — logged with a different club, not Cagliari, and therefore a separate chapter from his current Serie A account — adds context to his profile without inflating it. The league is where his development will be measured this season, and two matches without a goal or assist is simply the baseline, not a verdict.
Cagliari's market activity, with Sugawara's name linked to the club in the final window hours, suggests Pisacane is still shaping his squad. Every addition reconfigures the competition for places, and Romano, at 20, cannot assume his position in the XI is settled. The rating of 6.90 keeps him in the conversation; it does not end it.
Three points from two matches is a platform, not a foundation. Romano's job now is to make the next ninety minutes count more than the last one hundred and eighty.