Italy have a great bunch coming through and I think they would present a good place to find a player with top potential at good value.
They all have different strengths and weaknesses though, and not all are metronomic passers per se:
Barella - quite possibly my first choice central midfield signing. Not metronomic per se, but far more dynamic of your average midfielder of that type. Seeing what Herrera gives us, especially in big games, I think it would be a mistake to replace him with someone who is just good on the ball. Barella is like Saúl in style. He can tackle and cover a lot of ground. He can dribble and score goals, and pass the ball well. An all rounder, which I believe is what is needed for such a role.
Tonali - a young player, with a slight build but definitely a metronomic type from what I’ve seen. Off the ball he won’t go hunting it down and winning it back as much (although he’s tougher than he looks), but he will help control the ball in possession. With an aggressive and mobile DM behind him like Rice, he could be a good balancing option with Pogba. Great technical player, 6 or 8.
Pellegrini - slightly more offensive version of Barella, but with better technical ability and less aggression. Pellegrini has plenty of class on the ball, and is a great passer. He is more of an 8/10 hybrid than a 8/6.
Sensi - only seen one game of his, but read more and seen plenty clips. Broken into the full national team for Italy, and I’d go along with the description above of him being similar to Verratti from what I’ve seen. Box to box who is aggressive and can dribble with the ball. Good all-rounder.
Zaniolo - the jewel of Italian football at the moment. More of a 10 to me, but has the required physical abilities and drive to operate similarly to Kevin De Bruyne I think. Would again require the right sort of DM behind him who would do a lot of donkey work. But he’s not lazy, and is big and strong. Similar to Gerrard or KdB.
As I said, these players represent top value, and every single one can probably be signed for less than 50m (which would please the ‘why not sign both?’ brigade!). All have different merits, and Pellegrini, Tonali and Zaniolo in particular would require us to get a very strong DM behind them.