With him, we are almost certainly getting minimum two more passing midfielders. I doubt Kucka or Montolivo would make it to his type of team.
He may be ok with Bonaventura but in an advanced role. Midfielders will probably be two passers, one energetic shuttler.
Yea I see something like this happening.
Monto has enough ability on the ball to anchor a Montella team I think. As long as we have a better passer in the midfield three and another more energetic player the midfield balance will be fine.
I just think he has been forced to be the main passer for us in the last couple years due to lack of other options while also being the only midfielder capable of protecting the defence properly (besides Kucka to an extent). Talk about a thankless task destined to fail. Your DM winning all the balls back then forced to transform into a regista spraying passes around with tired legs.
Paredes would be a good signing to compete in the anchor position with Monto, allowing him to grow without too much pressure. I like his range of passing and comfort on the ball and he is not bad defensively at all. In fact he is a little over aggressive with his sliding tackles, but that can be curtailed over time (see Verratti). I much prefer a little extra aggression vs a lazy passive attitude ala Witsel.
An option for the side CM passer role I would like us to go for is Kovacic.
I'm trying to think of a player for the third midfielder role and the ideal player would be Hamsik, who combines quality with energy. It would be some statement for us to weaken our direct rival and it may actually be plausible iff Higuain leaves and causes a chain reaction. Wishful thinking yes, but he really would be ideal.