De Gea spent the entirety of last season without a club after leaving Manchester United in the summer of 2023, the Spanish goalkeeper signed a one-year contract with Fiorentina and on Thursday, he made his debut for his new club.

Unfortunately for the goalkeeper, his first game in 446 days didn’t exactly go according to plan, with Fiorentina drawing 3-3 at home to Hungarian side Puskas Akademia in the first leg of their UEFA Conference League play-off round, a match in which they were heavy favourites.

De Gea was beaten from the penalty spot by Zsolt Nagy after just eight minutes. And four minutes later he was powerless to prevent Mikael Soisalo doubling the visitors’ lead.

Fiorentina thought they had completed a remarkable comeback after goals from Riccardo Sottil, Lucas Quarta and Moise Kean put them 3-2 up. But Wojchiech Golla scored a late equaliser to leave the Italians with a huge task to do in the return leg next week.

Despite De Gea making a spectacular last-minute save to save his side from losing that night, coach Raffaele Palladino decided to bench the Spaniard for Sunday’s game against Venezia.

Instead, Pietro Terracciano was given a start after starting in La Viola’s league opener against Parma last weekend.

De Gea is hopeful of making his Serie A debut for his new club, but his next appearance is likely to be the return leg against Puskas Akademia in Budapest on Thursday. It is not yet known whether Palladino has decided De Gea will be a reserve in Serie A and a starter in cup competitions.