How Como turns cheap signings into million-euro football stars
Cesc Fabregas’s Como combines youth scouting and selective investment to create players whose market values jump into the tens of millions.
Como has become one of the more remarkable stories in European football by building a high-performing squad without relying only on expensive, established stars. Under coach Cesc Fabregas the club mixes low-cost signings with a few selective big investments, and the results have caught wider attention.
Smart scouting, big upside
A clear example is Lucas da Cunha: Como paid just 400.000 euros to sign him from Nice in 2023, and his market value is now estimated at about 30 million euros. Jakobo Ramon is another case — he arrived from Real Madrid for 2.5 million euros and has since seen his value rise to the tens of millions.
Other successful acquisitions listed by the club include Niko Paz, Martin Baturina, Anastasios Duvikas and Maksens Kakere. Paz joined from Real Madrid for six million euros before the Spanish giant activated a buy-back clause and later returned him to Como for 60 million. Baturina was bought from Dinamo Zagreb for 18 million, while Duvikas arrived from Celta for 14 million euros.
Como is not purely a bargain-hunting outfit: in recent transfer windows it has also spent significant sums — 30 million euros for Trevo Chaloba and 35 million for Mojs Kin — but those larger outlays sit alongside a broader strategy that prioritises young talent and development.
The combination of shrewd recruitment, targeted spending and giving players chances to grow has transformed Como from a team that played in Italy’s lower divisions a few years ago into a side now attracting attention on the European stage.
The model is straightforward: identify undervalued or developing players, bring them in affordably, give them minutes under Fabregas’s project, and either reap the sporting rewards or realise large transfer returns.
Photo: press material from the event
