Mauricio Macri, president of Argentine soccer club Boca Juniors, told presss in Argentina on Monday that he wanted Diego Maradona to replace Alfio Basile as club manager in June when Basile's contract ends.

Macri, who has lead the Argentine league club for 10 years, said that the proposal also depends on the willingness of Maradona, a star player in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Maradona had previously been invited to join the Argentina national team's training squad, alongside manager Jose Pekerman, but had refused.

"Because of what we are going through, Maradona is what we need for next June, when Basile's contract expires," said Macri, adding that the club would respect the manager's existing contract.

Maradona told the press that team "has a great manager today. If Basile dicides to go and Mauricio and I cannot find a trainer with the standing needed to lead Boca, I will consider that possibility. But a lot of things have to happen first," he said.

Maradona campaigned for Basile to be hired from rival club Xeneize and has defended strongly him when fans blamed Basile for the games when the team played badly.

In the same interview, Maradona complained about Pele, the former superstar Brazilian player Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele.

"Pele is like that: he always has to say something. It's like his period comes and he says something foolish. It really annoyed me that he whinged about Tevez," he said.

Pele said that Carlos Tevez, an Argentine who plays for Brazil's Corinthians, only won the coverted best player award because Robinho had been sold to Real Madrid.

Source: Xinhua