David de Gea

Key strength: Shot-stopping

Shot-stopper

Rooted in 18th place, ACF Fiorentina find themselves drowning in a relegation nightmare, and their grand solution—David de Gea—sits waiting on the sidelines. The 35-year-old Spanish legend, valued at €3.5 million, arrived from Manchester United with expectations of salvation, yet remarkably has recorded zero appearances this season. While Fiorentina's leaky defense has crumbled, the keeper who once dominated the Premier League's elite remains conspicuously absent, his single yellow card a stark symbol of peripheral existence. For a club desperately needing commanding presence behind a young backline featuring Pietro Comuzzo and Luca Ranieri, de Gea's inability to establish himself raises uncomfortable questions. Is it rust from extended exile, manager preference for Tommaso Martinelli, or Father Time finally catching a goalkeeper whose reflexes once frustrated world-class attackers weekly? With Fiorentina's survival hanging by a thread and Moise Kean's goals insufficient to paper over defensive cracks, the Viola cannot afford to keep their most experienced asset wrapped in cotton wool. The Theater of Dreams feels distant now—this is a different theater entirely, and de Gea must prove he can still perform on a stage where the stakes are existential, not ornamental.