Sunderland sealed a surprise deal to bring Granit Xhaka to the club in the summer

Former Sunderland boss Gus Poyet has expressed his surprise at Granit Xhaka's arrival this summer and said it could prove to be key in the club to avoid relegation from the Premier League this season.

Sunderland signed Xhaka from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, where the experienced midfielder had won a double just one season earlier. Xhaka's willingness to take on the likely survival battle was met with widespread surprise including from Poyet, though he also says the club is one where footballers will relish the prospect of playing.

"If you said to me at the end of last season that Sunderland were going to sign Grant Xhaka I'd have said, 'no chance'," Poyet told The Echo via William Hill.

"Even when the rumours started I thought, no chance. Not because of Sunderland, just because of where he was, what he was doing and how he was playing. It was impressive work from the whole staff to sign him. It's not only about youth and energy, you need understanding, presence, leadership. You need someone who understands when to put their foot on top of the ball and slow it down, or when to play a pass or cross at the right time. He's been impressive and a good decision to make him the leader of the team which probably wasn't easy. Everyone who was has been signed is bringing something, and the momentum has helped.

"Granit signing shows how much he wanted to be there," Poyet added.

"I would like to think that probably when he has played against Sunderland, maybe if he knows about the Stadium of Light probably he had that feeling of, 'this is proper'. Then you see the training ground.. as a footballer this is what you want. A great place to work every day and an unbelievable stadium full of people that love the club. I think that combination is for a footballer who wants to play, is massive."

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What has impressed Gus Poyet about Sunderland this season

While acknowledging that the fixture list had played a small part in Sunderland's very impressive start, Poyet also praised the club's pragmatism in avoiding the mistakes that other promoted clubs have made in recent times.

"I've said it before but I watched Burnley when they were promoted under Vincent Kompany and I thought, 'wow, impressive'," he said.

"No big [name] players but the understanding of football and how they played... and then they tried to play the same way with similar players but in the Premier League, no chance. The players are all big, powerful, technically good. So this was my worry for Sunderland, they had to change something. So when I saw the first game against West Ham I was delighted, very intelligent. Most of the time, most of us criticise the people in charge so let's say well done.

"They have identified the right players and got across in pre-season what they need from them. We say in football that if you sign five, four need to start right now. There is no tomorrow because if you miss two of the five, you have problems. Also I think that they were able to take that finish of the season, that atmosphere, into the first few games. They were able to keep that camaraderie. Now as I've said, the challenge is to keep that momentum when the adrenaline goes down. And also, you need to be lucky with the fixtures. If you get the big ones first, it's hard. I'm delighted."

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