Rio Ferdinand has challenged Callum Hudson-Odoi to recapture his early Chelsea form after falling behind Jadon Sancho in his progression.
The Blues winger has struggled for game time this season after recovering from a ruptured Achilles last year.
With Willian, Christian Pulisic and Pedro all vying for places on Chelsea's wing, Hudson-Odoi has often found himself on the bench and struggling to make an impact in brief cameo roles.
With Hakim Ziyech set to come into the team next season, adding further competition for Hudson-Odoi, the 19-year-old will need to step up his performances to earn a place in Frank Lampard's side.
Having burst onto the scene, the English winger was courted by Bayern Munich, prompting Chelsea to hand him a big-money deal to retain his services.
At that stage, in Ferdinand's eyes, he was ahead of Sancho in his progression but has fallen behind after Sancho's stellar form with Borussia Dortmund.
With that in mind, the former Manchester United defender has challenged Hudson-Odoi to recapture his best form and justify the initial excitement around his breakthrough.
“Callum Hudson-Odoi has been talked about at a young age, he had a bad Achilles injury," Ferdinand told BT Sport.
“But as a young kid, Callum Hudson-Odoi was talked about on the levels, if not better, than Jadon Sancho.
“He hasn’t kicked on like Jadon. There’s confidence and stuff, but these are great opportunities for young players to come in and really let people know ‘yes I am capable of playing at this level’.
“I think Callum has been promising for a while now and we need to see a performance at this level now to really justify the talk and the commotion we heard beforehand, because he has got talent, there’s no doubting that.”
Own Hargreaves added: “Bayern were desperate for him. They missed out on Jadon Sancho and they wanted somebody like Callum Hudson-Odoi.
"His talent is special. He has the potential to be special, but he had a big injury. I think he’s coming back slowly, but once he starts to get his confidence back and starts taking on people one versus one, he’s a really hard player to play against.
"It’s gonna be tough now, with Ziyech going there, Christian Pulisic. They’ve got a lot of flair players.”
