Maradona on Florentino Perez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Simeone FIFA World Cup 2018 Gives his opinion

Argentina have had their ups and downs in the World Cup so far and Diego Maradona has been following the team across Russia. He has taken time out though to talk to MARCA about key figures in the Spanish league.

FLORENTINO PEREZ

"Florentino is the best leader in the world of football today, without any doubt. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge of Bayern Munich may be very respectable, but he lacks the strength Florentino has. I have a very good relationship with him."

CRISTIANO RONALDO

"If Cristiano is to continue in Real Madrid or not, it is down to Cristiano, I am not going to get involved. Ronaldo has people advising him and will give him the best advice. Is he a star? That appears to be a comical question as it is obvious. A real star, there is no doubt for me."

.

NEYMAR

Neymar's performances haven't yet set the World Cup alight, but he's been on the end of some rather physical treatment from opposing teams.

"Neymar is a phenomenon, but he's still missing something," he confirmed. If he recovers from his injury then we'll see the best Neymar in Russia. He needs to know that in the current era, diving is a yellow card with VAR, he already received one against Costa Rica and now he needs to find a way to keep his cool."

SIMEONE

Diego Simeone has enjoyed an incredibly positive summer to this point with Atletico Madrid completing the signings of Thomas Lemar and Rodri, whilst Antoine Griezmann has signed a contract extension.

With that being said, the Argentine coach has taken headlines for the wrong reasons when a conversation about the national team was leaked, within which he was critical of the current setup.

Jorge Sampaoli is unlikely to be in charge once the tournament is over and the Argentinean Football Association will be tasked with hiring a new coach, yet Maradona doesn't feel as if the nation can hire Simeone.

"Argentina doesn't deserve Cholo yet," he admitted.

"The national team has to start to change from the bottom upwards, working with the young players.

"Simeone has come up to a point where he shouldn't drop back down, the first thing that the national team must do is work with young players and Simeone has progressed past that stage."