Como finished fourth in Serie A last season, securing Champions League football for the first time, after a campaign that confirmed the scale of their transformation under Cesc Fabregas.
For Donati, however, the most impressive part is the organisation behind the project.
“Obviously Como, because it's true that they spent a lot on the market, but it's also true that spending is not synonymous with winning,” Donati tells Football Presse.
“And so they are doing things properly.”
That distinction matters to Donati.
Financial resources can accelerate a project, but they cannot guarantee that the money is spent well, that a squad is balanced or that a club has the structure required to turn investment into results.
“They have important financial possibilities, but they are also structured well.”
For Donati, the club's direction is just as important as its spending power.
“A serious club, determined, that knows what it wants to do, with a club behind it that supports this desire to do things.”
“And in the end, when you put all these things together, you see the results.”
That is what caught Donati's attention as he watched Como's progress.
He does not see their success as simply the product of individual players or one particularly good run of form. Instead, he sees a club in which the different parts are moving in the same direction.
Como's rise has been extraordinary. The club returned to Serie A in 2024 after 21 years away and, just two seasons later, secured fourth place and Champions League qualification.
Donati's assessment also reflects the wider lesson he has drawn from his own career: football clubs need to be properly constructed if they want sustained success.
That is why his praise for Como sounds similar to his comments about Atalanta, another club he believes built its success through organisation rather than relying solely on individual decisions.
“It's a fact of organisation.”
And there is another element Donati clearly values: the willingness of a club to give its football people the conditions to work.
“They have behind them important financial possibilities, but they are structured well.”
That combination has allowed Como to move quickly without appearing directionless.
Fabregas has now taken the club into a new phase. After securing Champions League football, he said Como had already begun preparing for the following season and recognised that the demands would be completely different.
Donati's comments provide an interesting explanation for why the club has been able to make such a rapid ascent.
“It is not spending that means winning.”
“You have to do things properly.”
“And when there are all these things put together, the results can be seen.”
There is also an appreciation in Donati's assessment of the scale of what Como have achieved.
For a club that only recently returned to Italy's top flight, reaching the Champions League is not something that should be taken for granted simply because the ownership has significant resources.
“It is true that they have spent a lot,” Donati says.
“But it's also true that spending is not synonymous with victory.”
That is perhaps the most important point in his assessment.
Money can buy better players. It cannot automatically create a functioning football club.
Como's challenge now is to prove that their rise is sustainable.
Their Champions League qualification means a significantly greater workload, a higher level of opposition and greater scrutiny. Fabregas himself has acknowledged that the club must raise its level to cope with the demands of European football.
Donati, though, is impressed by the foundations already in place.
“They are structured well.”
“They know what they want to do.”
“And they have a club behind them that supports them in this desire to do things.”
For a coach who has experienced both well-run clubs and the pressures that come when results arrive faster than structures can cope, those details matter.
And that is why Donati's verdict on Como goes beyond their spending.
“They are doing things properly.”
For him, that is the real reason their rise has become impossible to ignore.