AC Milan are beginning to look more and more like a Vincenzo Montella team as the weeks go by. With four wins from seven Serie A fixtures so far this season, the coach has already left a visible tactical imprint on the side.

The team’s buildup is more patient and considered now than it ever was during Sinisa Mihajlovic’s reign. There is also less of a proclivity for punting aimless long balls when under pressure, primarily because the players take up positions to enable passing out from the back.

And in the final third, Milan now have a more fluid aesthetic. The inward movements of M’Baye Niang and Suso, combined with the forward surges of the full-backs and outside central midfielders, have led to the creation of a more dynamic attacking force.

Progress has been made, but as evidenced in the nerve-jangling wins over Torino and Sassuolo, Montella doesn’t quite have a team in his own calm, collected and technically refined image just yet. This is primarily due to the unsuitability of certain individuals within his system.

His midfield is still frequently populated by players who would be better off in a less intricate style of play. Juraj Kucka’s efforts are appreciated—and his energy can sometimes prove effective—but he isn't a particularly efficient ball-player.

The same complaints could not be made about Cesc Fabregas were he to wear a Milan shirt in the near future, something that—if rumours are to be believed—is a genuine possibility.

On Sunday, Corriere dello Sport (h/t Football Italia) reported that, following a failed bid to sign the player over the summer, Milan are set to return in January with another offer for the Spaniard.

Fabregas has failed to assert himself upon Chelsea's lineup since the arrival of former Italy national-team coach Antonio Conte at Stamford Bridge. This season, he has made just four league appearances, three of them coming from the substitutes' bench, and his sole start came in a bitterly disappointing 3-0 defeat to London rivals Arsenal.

That match proved a watershed moment for the Blues in a tactical sense.

Unconvinced by what he had seen in the first half, Conte changed formations for the second and finally brought in the back three that so many associate with his management. He then stuck by this defensive setup, within a 3-4-3 system, for Chelsea’s last game before the international break, which resulted in a 2-0 win over Hull City.

Fabregas, having just worked his way back into the side with an impressive display against Leicester City in the EFL Cup in which he scored two goals, was relegated once more to the bench. The sight of a player of his calibre watching from the sidelines is an unusual one.

For the elite prospect, an intense early start to life as a key player is both a gift and a curse. While it allows them to thrive at a young age and gain crucial experience, it can also lead to premature decline. At just 29 years of age, there appears to be a risk that Fabregas is experiencing this fate.

At the tender age of 17, he was developing into a driving force for Arsenal. His talent and potential at that time was such that Gunners legend Bob Wilson told BBC Sport's Ian Hughes: “I think Fabregas is one of the best young players there has ever been.”

However, that was 12 years ago. Since then, Fabregas has been Arsenal’s midfield inspiration in the post-Patrick Vieira years, moved back to Barcelona and then returned to England with Chelsea. But he has never quite been able to fulfil his immense early promise, cast as he has often been as one star among many.

Overshadowed by icons at Barcelona, his first six months at Chelsea were suggestive of a player back to his best. Indeed, in the 2014-15 campaign, he set up 18 goals to help his team to the Premier League title. But his productivity dwindled last term, and he has found himself on the periphery of the side this season due to reasons tactical in nature.

Conte’s preference is for midfield battalions, organised ball-winners and carriers who can fit a rigid defensive structure and bring the ball forward effectively when necessary. Energy, restraint, positioning and speed are prerequisites for this Italian, and Fabregas doesn’t fit the bill.

But Montella is a different type of Italian.

Unlike Conte, his coaching vision is one built upon control of possession as opposed to fast transitions; indeed Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino previously described the former Fiorentina man as “almost like a Spanish coach for his playing style.”

Montella has already brought in aspects of this philosophy at Milan, but in order to fully implement his ideas he is in need of improved midfield options. Aptly, a Spaniard could be the man to provide some of the missing traits.

Technically, Fabregas is as smooth as they come. He is adept in tight spaces and thus would have no trouble adjusting to Montella’s measured buildup. And in the middle third, his astute passing would bring the sort of insight and penetration that is found lacking from a number of the Diavolo’s central options.

While there is no evidence that he would be able to fill the regista role left vacant as a result of Riccardo Montolivo’s recent injury, Fabregas could function on the right-hand side of Milan’s midfield trident, taking up a slightly deeper role than the faster and more attack-minded Giacomo Bonaventura on the left.

In addition to his stylistic and systematic suitability to Montella’s team, it is arguable that the player would benefit from a move to Milan in other ways.

Firstly, he would once again possess the star status afforded him during his time at Arsenal as a precocious teenager, adding a luxurious sheen unparalleled in Milan's existing squad. Having played for some of the finest clubs in England and Spain, and won countless trophies at club and international level, he would garner the attention and focus his skills have craved for so long.

In this respect, Fabregas could turn to Milan to revive his stalled career, just as past greats such as Clarence Seedorf, Andrea Pirlo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic did. At the same time, his arrival would signal a new dawn of hope for a club that has missed out on continental qualification for three successive years.

Secondly, Serie A would offer Fabregas a sort of refuge from the hurly-burly, ultra-physical world of English football. Freed from the incessant intensity of the Premier League, his borderline-nonchalant style would be given more time to breathe in the comparably subdued environs of the Italian game.

At present, it appears as if Montella is unsold on the move. “We are looking for a player who has the characteristics of Montolivo, who can also play in a midfield two," he told Corriere della Sera (h/t Sky Sports). “Fabregas? He doesn't have those particular attributes.”

But, if the coach can be convinced, a deal would make perfect sense for both club and player.

Fabregas would improve the quality of Milan’s possession game and fill a midfield void. And, in turn, Milan would offer the Spaniard an opportunity to resurrect a career in decline.