Ross Barkley is finally looking the part at Chelsea.

The 25-year-old managed only 131 minutes of Premier League football in his first six months at Stamford Bridge.

This season, Barkley has been made 23 top-flight appearances - 11 of them starts - and scored or assisted seven goals.

His performances have been equally influential, with two goals in Euro 2020 qualifying catching the eye of Gareth Southgate.

Not bad going for a player who was left at home for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Maurizio Sarri can only be pleased to see Barkley settle into life at the west London club after a difficult start.

However, while the Italian appreciates that the former Everton man has enhanced his game in the last 12 months, he doubts he will ever develop leadership qualities in the middle of the park.

"Probably he is not a leader in that way," Sarri said, per Goal.

"He is not able to lead the other players. He is a fighter. He is able to fight in every match. I think it is a question of personality. Sometimes you have a very young player with a very high level of personality.

"Sometimes they don't. It is not easy to change. It is an individual characteristic, I think. He has improved a lot tactically. Also, physically, I think. As you know well in the last season he played only 200 minutes, so he needed to stay on the pitch.

"Fortunately, now he is going very well with his leg and he improved a lot during the season — a very, very good player. I think that he improved a lot in the defensive phase because technically he was, and he is, a very good player.

"In the offensive phase, he can score seven or eight goals every season. Now I think he is also a good player in the defensive phase. He is not a defensive midfielder, of course, but he is good enough now.

"Of course, at the beginning of the season, he didn't have big confidence because last season was really very hard for him. Then after three or four or five matches in the starting eleven, he changed. Now he is a very important player for us."

Pretty brutal comments for Barkley to hear from a manager who’s overseen his resurrection of sorts at Chelsea.

He might not be at the forefront of Blues’ fan thinking when it comes to potential captains, but Sarri’s choice of words were surely a tad harsh.