I'm surprised this hasn't been discussed here... What do you guys think? Worth a try? He plays there for Italy

He plays am for Italy because Italy already have somebody who's unarguably better than Montolivo playing in the dlp position. If we had somebody with good vision and passing range, say for example, a player like aquaman we could have afforded to try him there. Having said that, Montolivo has never been able to play his game comfortably so far up top, except for some good performances here and there. So it is not an option, for me at least.

I think our mid is good right now, no need to change Montolivo. It's our center backs that are just horrendous in my opinion. I think Yepes is the only one with quality in my opinion.

I don't believe that such an idea should be dismissed, though it must be emphasised that if he were to be used as a back-up in such a system, it should ideally be one which provides greater support than the 4-3-1-2.

As it currently stands however, Montolivo is our only option from the deep who offers calm and guile in possession, with the only other realistic option to play both Ambrosini and De Jong in the pivot behind him, which is unsustainable due to our captain's fitness, amongst other concerns. The arrival of a competent understudy or realistic heir could lend weight to the idea, however we would be better suited to finding an option to play slightly ahead of Montolivo in my opinion.