Diego Maradona has hit out at Jorge Valdano for not doing enough to
help the Argentina national team.
Valdano, a former international team-mate of Maradona, is
currently director general at Primera Liga giants Real Madrid.
The Spanish outfit currently have three Argentina players on
their books - Gonzalo Higuain, Fernando Gago and Ezequiel Garay -
and the trio remain very much in Maradona's thoughts ahead of the
2010 World Cup.
However, first-team opportunities are proving hard to come by
for the South American stars at Santiago Bernabeu, hindering their
prospects of featuring in South Africa this summer.
Maradona feels Valdano should be doing more to aid the cause
of his compatriots as he knows better than most, as a World Cup
winner in 1986, the thrills of representing your country on
football's biggest stage.
"Valdano is one of the biggest rivals to Argentina at the
moment because he first sent Gabriel Heinze away from Real Madrid
and has now prevented Fernando Gago from leaving in search of
regular football," said the outspoken national team coach.
"He knows they are two players that I have in mind for the
World Cup. Fortunately Gabriel is somewhere he can play (Marseille)
but Fernando doesn't play and I can't call a player into my team
that is not match sharp.
"He (Valdano) is doing the same with Gonzalo Higuain, even
though he is scoring more goals than (Karim) Benzema and Raul.
"I think it's disgusting that an Argentinian is preventing
other Argentinians from playing regularly.
"I know that many things are decided by the coach Manuel
Pellegrini, but it seems to me that Valdano is not doing enough to
help our guys."
