Egypt ace Elmo, who moved to the Stadium of Light on an extendable season-long loan in the summer, was struggling to communicate with his teammates when he first joined the Black Cats.

But it seems that the 23-year-old is a fast learner, having developed his lingo skills before the season halfway mark.

"His English isn't coming along too badly, and he gets his point across when he needs to," said Onuoha, who's on loan from Manchester City.

"You don't really have deep and meaningful conversations during the game anyway. As long as he gets his point across and he understands what we're trying to say to him, then it's fine.

"I've been told he's the Egyptian national right-back, so he knows what he's doing. He's quite direct as well, so it's good to have him down that right-hand side."

Elmohamady remained a regular starter for a while after his arrival at Sunderland but was benched in the past seven matches, playing only for few minutes in six of which.

The pacey wide man replaced Sunderland defender Anton Ferdinand only after ten minutes in last weekend's Premiership goalless draw with Fulham due to injury.

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce said he has been keeping Elmohamady on the bench to 'protect him a little', saying 'he'll have a big part to play' soon.

With Ferdinand ruled out of action for several weeks, Elmohamady has a chance to regain his status as a regular starter right away.

The right-back is widely expected to be included in Sunderland's starting line-up for their Premier League game against Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.