Where does Aatrox stand as a champion?

I just bought Aatrox but had played him in free week about week or two ago. I had only played him in jungle and I found he was good enough even though his sustain is surprisingly poor early game compared to a lot of the other champions since his spells drain his health pool.

He is strong enough as far as jungling goes but he has one of the worst laning phases I have ever seen in my life. His starting health is 538, which is disastrously low for someone who's only form of poke costs 5% of current health and is hard to land. He is awful at fighting since he can't win duels without his passive being popped and once it is then the enemy can just back off and recall. Then when Aatrox returns to lane he can't fight without his passive which has a 225 second cooldown meaning he is basically useless until it's back up. His sustain is very weak in duels until he get's a Spirit Visage or BORTK otherwise he is often crushed before he can get his three auto's out to heal himself unlike someone like Xin Zhao who has excellent dueling potential and a targeted slow and knockup. As for the alternate version of his Blood Price it is relatively useless until late game because he is better off with the sustain rather than the damage a lot of the time since he is so squishy. Now I know his ultimate and passive give him attack speed which allows him to proc his W more often which is awesome and all. But compare him to someone like Xin Zhao which basically has the same kit that he does except Xin Zhao is better in everyway.

Xin has a targeted slow, knockup, knockback, basic attack enhancer, armour penetration, 3 AA proc self heal( with possible buffs), AOE Ult with AD scaling . I don't see why I would ever want to pick Aatrox over Xin Zhao. If anyone can please explain to me how and why anyone would play Aatrox as a top laner or even a jungler.

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/174/a/f/aatrox_m2_by_tlishman-d6aa7yw.jpg