It was portrayed as not quite a warning, but something motivational. Chelsea's manager - the headlines screamed - was demanding "more" from his captain, Reece James.
Well we say his captain, though to be fair, Maresca inherited the decision from predecessor Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine went with James over his now former - and fair more senior - teammate Thiago Silva. Who, it must be said, was the favoured choice for the majority of the dressing room.
Up until last week, James' status had escaped scrutiny. The assumption made, that for Maresca, the England fullback was the best locker room leader the club had. But that all fell apart last week as Maresca conceded some real concern about the lack of leadership within his youthful squad. The Italian going public with how he sees the role of club captain and what is expected from the man with the armband.
He declared, "Yes, I spoke with him and I expected from him more in terms of leadership, inside the changing room and for different kind of things. So he's on the way, he's doing well, he’s progressing but from Reece I expected more also in terms of leadership.
"Most of the time when they are captain, they think that because they are captain they have more: 'because I am the captain, I expect that you give me more.' For me, because you are the captain you have to give more. You have to give more than the rest."
But then, Maresca called into question James' work as a leader.
"And sometimes: 'okay, I am the captain I can give less', no. He's one of the captains and I expected from him, and his teammates expected from him, to give always more in terms of leadership in general.
"He understands that we expected more from him. He's one of our guys from the academy but this is one of the reasons why he has to show more in terms of personality."
On first flush, it reads like a warning. James effectively being put on notice that his position as skipper is now under discussion. Though there was a qualifier from Maresca. James, it seems, isn't alone.
"He's a reserved guy," continued the manager, "as you said, but not only him. But when you don't have a proper leader, you need to build that. I think we don't have a proper leader."
As we say, was this a revv-up for James? A demand that he come out of his shell and show "more" personality around the dressing room? Or was it an alert to management? That this squad has already 'burned the stages', as they say on the continent, and now need specific, surgical additions, to accelerate their development.
Certainly, Maresca has had a front row seat on what is needed to take a talented, youthful team and transform them into genuine title challengers. This column has stated it consistently, there's a chasm between what is needed to finish in the top four and the top two. And then, there's another huge gap from the top two and to title winners. Manchester City over this decade, have proven that. And it's something Maresca has seen up close.
As City's U21 manager. While on the senior staff of Pep Guardiola. Maresca knows how important the likes of Vincent Kompany, Fernandinho and Ilkay Gundogan were to City's title winning teams. Chelsea have no such players. Not even close. And under this current management team, they've shown little inclination to seek out such personalities.
And for Maresca, as he continued last week, such leadership skill doesn't appear overnight, "probably in one or two years, three years some of them will be better in that". Three years? Yeah, if Chelsea are lucky. Kompany, Fernandinho and Gundogan really didn't come into their own until their late 20s. David Silva. Kyle Walker. Again, veteran players, with a record no-one can question. There's nothing like that inside the Chelsea dressing room.
But if they're to make the next step, such personalities will have to be found. Maresca knows this. It's clear he doesn't have his ideal captain to count on this season. But that rant may not have been solely for James.
If anyone knows, it is the former City coach. He said as much last week. For Chelsea to take the next step, they need leaders. Leaders they currently do not have.