Maradona dismisses quit claim

NEW Argentina coach Diego Maradona has dismissed suggestions he will resign if he does not get his choice of assistant.

Maradona, who was installed as coach on November 4, has reportedly been in dispute with Argentinian Football Association boss Julio Grondona, who does not approve of his choice of Oscar Ruggeri.

But the 48-year-old said yesterday: “I have never thought about resigning.”

Maradona and his squad are expected to arrive in Scotland on Sunday ahead of next week’s friendly at Hampden Park and is keen to have his 1986 World Cup winning team-mate by his side.

He had been reported as saying: “I will be the trainer of Argentina with my technical staff I want to work with, otherwise I will not be coming to Glasgow.”

AFA technical secretary Carlos Bilardo, however, was confident Maradona will not carry out his threat.

He said: “He won’t resign. I have spoken to Diego and told him he has to go slowly. There are 500 people he can choose to assist him. When I coached the national team I had to change my whole staff after four or five months. But Diego wants them all at once.”

Alejandro Mancuso and Miguel Angel Lemme will be Maradona’s assistants for next week’s friendly.