Argentina's national team coach Diego Maradona said on Monday that he has never seen a player with "the ball tied to his foot" like Lionel Messi.

According to local sports daily Ole, Maradona joked that "it is easer to contact (U.S President Barack) Obama" than Messi.

Maradona said that "it is pleasure to work with Messi" because "he makes everything easy."

"He has the ball tied to his foot, it is part of his body. This is, it comes that foot and the ball," said the former star.

"I have never seen that before and I have seen (many) players. I have seen players like (Marco) Van Basten, Careca, a lot of players, (Rene) Houseman, for example. But none of them like Messi," Maradona said.

Reporters asked if he would like to teach Messi to be a Maradona, and Maradona answered "by none means", because "Messi must be Messi".

"Messi is my Maradona. There is not a player more important that Messi. I have said (Javier) Mascherano and 10 more, and today I can say that in my team also is Messi and 10 more," Maradona added.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2009)