Rightly so, looked on the pace to be Sandro mk II in those games. Had some disappointing performances after that, but I think once he hits his stride and is match fit - he'll be a real weapon.
He was good Sunderland away when he played at the back with Dawson. Daws even mentioned in an interview after the game that it was easy to play with him and he coped really well.
An injury that he suffered that ruled him out for MONTHS is obviously going to have an effect on such a player and there's been some suggestions that he hasn't been playing because of his fitness which I could understand. He should be ahead of Bentaleb IMO