Jonathan Rowe, Bologna's 23-year-old forward, began his Serie A 2026-27 campaign on the losing side as Domenico Tedesco's side fell 0-1 to Lazio at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on 25 August, leaving Bologna in 14th place with no points from their opening fixture.
The result matters beyond the table. A single defeat in August is recoverable. What complicates Rowe's situation is the transfer noise surrounding him: Atalanta have identified the winger as a priority target for their front line, with Bologna resisting any approach. That tension — between a club trying to build around a young asset and a rival club pressing for him — is the real story of Rowe's opening week.
Lazio's winner came from summer signing Davide Frattesi, the Italy international whose goal settled a match that Tedesco's Bologna could not find an answer to. The scoreline — Bologna 0-1 Lazio — was the bluntest possible start for a side still finding its shape under a new head coach. Tedesco, speaking after the match, acknowledged his players must learn from their errors and noted the difficulty of certain selection decisions, including leaving Federico Bernardeschi out of the squad. That kind of candour from a coach in the first week of the season signals a squad still in formation, not one operating at its ceiling.
For Rowe specifically, the opening match produced a rating of 6.90 — a competent rather than commanding performance, consistent with a player settling into a new tactical environment. His AI profile rates him at 71 out of 100 overall, with a potential ceiling of 78, which places him firmly in the category of a player whose best football is still ahead of him. Atalanta's interest is not accidental: a 4-3-3 system demands wide forwards who can carry the ball in transition and contribute in tight spaces, and Rowe fits that profile.
Bologna's resistance to selling is the correct instinct. A player with Rowe's developmental arc — young, rated with clear upside, already operating in Serie A — is precisely the kind of asset that loses value the moment you concede the negotiation. If Tedesco can stabilise the squad and give Rowe consistent minutes, the 78-point ceiling becomes a realistic target rather than a projection.
The season is one match old. Bologna have time to correct course, and Rowe has time to impose himself. But the Atalanta question will not disappear quietly, and how Bologna handle the next few weeks of the window will define whether Rowe becomes a cornerstone of Tedesco's project or a footnote in someone else's.