I don't think we'd really seen enough of him to say by 2009 that he was turning into a top class player. He reached an average level early, but he was never more than a utility. There was never a time he showed the kind of promise that Ramsey or Wilshere are showing right now.
There was a cargo cult about him having talents he didn't really have that were supposed to develop, some of which was based solely around his nationality.
For instance, he scored a lucky goal from distance and there was all this talk about how he had a superpower of "snapping his ankles" because he was Brazilian. Never repeated though was it?
As for the Roy Keane comparison, I find it odd - because Keane's most notable attribute was his desire and ability to lead, his aggression and the exacting standard he set for his teammates. In other words, he was an angry bully who also played extremely well. That's the opposite of the Denilson I remember, who was always one of the holes in a string of Swiss cheese lineups.
