Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard says he will select Tyrone Mings again when he "looks me in the eye and shows that he's ready to play".
And England centre-half Mings, 29, was an unused substitute as Villa started the season with a 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday.
"When I made the decision over the captaincy, I set him that challenge," Gerrard told BBC Radio WM.
"We said to Tyrone 'if you get back to your consistent best, you'll be back in the team'."
At the time, Mings said he had "no issues" with losing the captaincy but asked after Saturday's game if Mings' omission was down to his reaction, Gerrard replied: "It's a little bit of that.