Udinese defender Oumar Solet Bomawoko and his teammates left Inter's ground on matchday four of the 2026-27 Serie A season on the wrong end of a 5-3 scoreline, a result that extended the Friulani's difficult start to the campaign and left Kosta Runjaić's side sitting 13th in the table with four points from four matches.
The defeat stings precisely because Udinese had led 2-0. Goals from Abankwah and Ekkelenkamp put the visitors in a position that, in any rational reading of the game, should have been enough to manage. Inter's Cristian Chivu oversaw a full reversal, with Carlos Augusto, Nicolo Barella, Marcus Thuram, Pio Esposito, and Bonny all finding the net in a comeback that gave the Nerazzurri five goals and the three points. Runjaić's assistant Kolarov was sent off during the match for dissent toward the referee, adding institutional turbulence to a painful evening.
For Solet Bomawoko, the 26-year-old is now three Serie A appearances into his 2026-27 season, carrying an average rating of 6.65 across those outings. No goals, no assists — the profile of a centre-back doing functional work in a team still searching for its defensive footing. Udinese have conceded ten goals in four league matches, a figure that sits uncomfortably regardless of the attacking returns at the other end. Shipping five in a single evening, after leading by two, is the kind of collapse that exposes structural problems rather than individual ones, but defenders are always the first to absorb the reputational cost.
The broader picture for Solet Bomawoko is one of measured potential. His AI overall of 74 out of 100, with a separate potential rating of 77, suggests a player who has room to grow but needs a stable defensive unit around him to do so. One win, one draw, and two defeats is not the platform from which a centre-back builds confidence or profile. Runjaić's system has produced eight goals in four games — an attacking return that is not the problem — but the ten conceded tell a different story, and the 5-3 at Inter is the loudest chapter of it so far.
Solet Bomawoko also carries a Coppa Italia appearance this season, though that match was not with his current club and the competition context is distinct from the league campaign he is now navigating with Udinese. His Serie A minutes are where his standing will be judged, and three matches in, the evidence is still thin enough that the next few weeks carry genuine weight.
Udinese face a schedule that will not soften the questions already forming around their defensive shape. Solet Bomawoko has the profile to be part of the answer. Whether Runjaić's side can stop conceding at the rate they currently are will determine whether that potential finds any expression before the autumn is out.