"We are not yet even at 50 per cent of what we can become."
That was the headline. Como finished fourth in Serie A in their debut top-flight season, qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in the club's history. They were the highest-placed newly promoted side in the division's modern era. And yet their manager is telling them the project is still in its infancy.
Fàbregas was asked whether he saw himself staying at Como long-term in the manner of Arsène Wenger at Arsenal — a coach who arrived at a club below the summit and spent two decades reshaping its identity.
"I'd love it," he said simply.
It was not false modesty or diplomatic deflection. Fàbregas, 38, has spoken throughout the season about his attachment to the environment, the owners — the Hartono family — and the process of building something from scratch. He speaks about Como the way managers who stay at clubs for a long time tend to speak: as if the project and the person are the same thing.
He also acknowledged the personal growth the season demanded of him.
"In the second part of the season I managed the bench better as well," he said. "At the beginning I was too hot-blooded. That is part of the journey."
A former player of Wenger's, he still receives messages from the Frenchman after matches — wins and losses alike. He described Wenger as the manager who most shaped his understanding of the game, occupying more pages in the coaching notebook he has been keeping since the age of 22 than anyone else.
He also spoke about patience — a virtue he identified as increasingly rare in modern football but central to what Como's ownership has offered him.
"Today in football there is no more patience. Managers are changed after a few games. Here, on the other hand, I am calm. For me it is like being at university. I am learning an enormous amount."
The wider project has been built on a distinctive transfer philosophy. Nico Paz was signed from Real Madrid's B team and has since emerged as one of the division's outstanding creative midfielders. Jacobo Ramon arrived on a similar path. The model is to identify technically gifted players at elite academies who need an environment where they will play regularly.
Como will compete in the Champions League group stage next season. That changes the demand level, the recruitment budget and the intensity of scrutiny significantly.
Fàbregas has spent the year preparing for exactly that.