“I don’t really think so because we’re not ready. The reason is that City have worked with the same manager for nine years and Arsenal for five years. If you want to compete for big things you have to have that Need of the hour.
“I asked Luis Enrique after Arsenal beat PSG and he also said that Arsenal have had the same manager for five years and he has only had one and a half years.
“Imagine us, only three months… so that’s a huge difference. So I’m really convinced that we can’t compete with those clubs.”
Chelsea are home to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Sunday (14:00 BST).
They have spent £1.5 billion in the last five transfer windows, albeit with significant sales of players, and currently only Carney Chukwuemeka (ill) and Reece James (hamstring) are on the sidelines.
Maresca wants time and patience in his first year of management at Stamford Bridge, with the Blues entering their third year of ownership under Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
“The goal is to improve and gradually get closer to those clubs, but at the moment we are not ready for that,” he added.
“There is no time limit because you can always keep improving and adding solutions to things.”