Vardy has announced he will leave Leicester City at the end of the season when his contract expires. Vardy and Maresca worked together at the Foxes, winning promotion two seasons ago from the Championship.
Maresca said: "Yeah, for sure, no doubt. I feel very proud to share part of my journey with Jamie, with Leicester. I always consider him in the past and when I worked with him, one of the best No.9s in the last 20-25 years, not only in England, everywhere.
"And as I said, I feel very proud to share part of my journey with him. With us, he was fantastic, brought the way we wanted to play, the way for him was something new because he was used in the past, you know, transition, counter-attacker. But with us, he changed completely, open mind, fantastic. So, will be for sure 100% a loss for the football, especially here in England."
Maresca also insisted Vardy, 38, deserves to be regarded as genuine Premier League legend.
"No doubt what he has done with Leicester, it's always difficult to score a goal, no matter if it's Premier League or Championship, League 1, League 2, it's always difficult to score a goal. But when you do what he has done with Leicester, he's no doubt that he's a legend."
Vardy has hopes of finding himself another Premier League club as a free agent this summer and Maresca was asked if Chelsea are interested.
He added, "I spoke with Jamie yesterday, so not about Chelsea. Not about Chelsea, I spoke yesterday with him and I said, football needs people like him, so for sure he will be involved in football."