He made his top division debut on 11 January 2009 by playing one minute in a 0–1 loss against Rio Ave, and finished his first full season with 20 games and one goal as the club suffered relegation.

In December, however, he was recalled by the parent club,[2] going on to make four official appearances for the first team until the end of the season, including 90 minutes in a 2–0 home win over C.D.

However, following the sales of Javi García and Axel Witsel in the last minutes of the summer transfer window, he started being called regularly to the main squad, either as a backup to Maxi Pereira at right back or in centre midfield.

[5] He also played the full 90 minutes in the second group stage game between the two teams, a 2–1 home success; on both occasions, he starred in the right side of defense.

[11] He made his debut in the competition on 16 June, replacing injured Fábio Coentrão in the second half of an eventual 0–4 group stage loss to Germany.