Roma came back from a goal down to hold OGC Nice 1-1 in a pre-season friendly, which saw Paulo Dybala remain on the touchline.
The new signing is now expected to have his debut against Tottenham on July 30, having just arrived as a free agent.
Still in Portugal as part of the pre-season training camp, Jose Mourinho’s men initially left Tammy Abraham and Lorenzo Pellegrini on the bench.
Matias Vina was again disappointing as a left-wing-back, making an error that allowed Billal Brahimi to open the scoring, going clear one-on-one with Mile Svilar.
The equaliser was an own goal from a familiar face, former Juventus flop Mario Lemina deflecting the Rick Karsdorp strike into his net.
Leonardo Spinazzola was a bright spark of the match, proving he is getting back to form after almost a year out due to a ruptured Achilles tendon.
Otherwise, the team performance improved after the break with the introduction of Abraham and Pellegrini, while Stephan El Shaarawy also went close and Gianluca Mancini’s header forced a tough save.
Roma 1-1 Nice
Brahimi 41 (N), Lemina og 55 (R)
Roma: Svilar (Rui Patricio 46); Karsdorp (Celik 59), Smalling, Kumbulla (Mancini 46); Spinazzola (Zalewski 46), Matic (Bove 46), Veretout (Cristante 59), Viña (Ibanez 59); Zaniolo (Pellegrini 46), Carles Perez (El Shaarawy 46); Shomurodov (Abraham 46)
Nice: Bulka; Atal, Todibo, Dante, Bard, Rosario, Lemina, Stengs, C Maurice, Ilie, Brahimi