Melo is a strange one for me. His role on the pitch is yet to be defined as far as i'm concerned. He structured Fiorentina's play and he liks the ball at his feet but he is certainly not a playmaker. He's capable of more than destroying. He's a bit more rounded version with a little more depth to him, but more raw and less clean version of players like C Zanetti and Emerson (when he was with us) I guess.
So he's going to join the team on Thursday, same day Buffon & Co. are joining the team in Pinzolo. Nice move there from Melo because he's the player with longest vacation because of Confed Cup final. I heard that it's like 1 week before his vacation ends ?
That's a decent comparison. Though Melo isn't quite on De Rossi's level yet.
In Italy they call that role 'metodista' somewhere inbetween a pure defensive midfielder and a deeplying playmaker.