As Enzo Maresca recalls, his Leicester players didn't just ring the doorbell; they sneaked around to the back of his house and tapped on the windows. It was late April, late at night, and the club's promotion back to the Premier League had just been confirmed when Leeds lost at QPR. The players could have celebrated anywhere, but they chose to come to him—the manager who had guided them—which spoke volumes about their collective bond.

Maresca would move from Leicester to Chelsea over the summer. But as he prepares to take his new club to visit his old one on Saturday lunchtime, he can't ignore the emotions tied to the relationships he built during the season that defined him. These relationships serve as the blueprint for what he aims to achieve at Chelsea.

"The first face I saw was Hamza [Choudhury]," Maresca recalls, referring to the Leicester midfielder. "They didn't knock at the door; they were in the garden and then at my window. When I drew the curtains, it was his face there. We had many good moments, and this was perhaps not the most important one. But it was the one that showed me how strong the connection was between the players and the staff."

It was probably the best gift Maresca received last season when, after being promoted, the entire team arrived at his house around two o'clock in the morning. He was watching the Leeds game, and when it finished, all the staff arrived. Later, very late, the players arrived. They could have been anywhere celebrating, but they chose to come to his home. As a player, Maresca had been fortunate to win things, but he had never thought to visit his manager's house.

Maresca was appointed at Leicester in the summer of 2023 after the club's relegation, looking past his lack of first-team managerial experience—just 13 Serie B games with Parma in 2021-22. After a promising start, things became tense; questions were raised by the Leicester support. On February 13, Maresca's team had been 12 points clear of second-placed Leeds and 14 ahead of Southampton. Two months later, after three wins in 10 matches, they were level with second-placed Ipswich and one point clear of Leeds. Home wins over West Brom and Southampton steadied the ship, and perhaps the close finish pulled them even closer together.

Maresca is unsure about the reception he will get from the King Power Stadium crowd; after all, he did leave them. But he knows how he will feel towards everyone connected to Leicester.

"I will be thankful to the club, the players, and the fans because it was a fantastic season," he says. "I met people that are very difficult to find in football—the owner, his family... they are fantastic human beings. They care for the players, the staff, all the people who work inside the club. And then, in terms of players, it was top. I will be thankful for all of my life to that squad. Most of them I am still in contact with."

The affection is clear. When Jamie Vardy's name comes up, Maresca makes a striking claim. "England has been quite lucky with strikers, like Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney, and many others, but if you ask me, Jamie has been the best one," he says. "People don't realize how good he is."

Maresca remains in very close contact with one of them—the attacking midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who followed him to Chelsea in a £30m deal. Dewsbury-Hall was one of the stars of Leicester's league season, a virtual ever-present who contributed 12 goals and 14 assists. At Chelsea, he has been out of the match-day squad in the league more often than not, limited to three substitute appearances. Maresca has relied on him in the Conference League and started him in the two Carabao Cup ties.

Maresca believes Dewsbury-Hall's time will come in the league. But as he tries to shape a positive culture, with early signs being good, even if it remains delicate with so many talents to satisfy, he wants to highlight Dewsbury-Hall's contribution.

"The problem with Kiernan is that people just see him if he's playing or not," Maresca says. "But people don't see the way he is helping us in terms of process. Along with Cole [Palmer] and Roméo [Lavia], who worked with me at Manchester City, Kiernan is the one who knows some of my concepts. He helps us a lot—more than what he's thinking."

"Kiernan was the most important player at Leicester; he moved to Chelsea to be one other player. You have to accept that. And probably at the beginning, you struggle to accept that. Now it's getting better. But for sure, he has to fight and continue to work, to wait for the chance and take it."

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