Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaleta is desperate to be part of Diego Maradona's plans for Argentina.

He was part of his country's gold medal-winning efforts at the Olympic Games in Beijing last year but has won only two senior caps.

And he has not even been contacted by Maradona yet even though the legendary World Cup winner spent time with both Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano during a whistle-stop tour of the north-west last year.

However, Zabaleta has been one of City's most consistent performers for City since his £6.75million move from Espanyol last summer, leaving the 24-year-old hopeful of catching Maradona's eye at some point in the near future.

"It is good for Argentina and the people that a great hero like Maradona is in charge," Zabaleta told the club's website, mcfc.co.uk.

"We call him Dios - God. He won the World Cup as a player and we hope he will win it now as coach.

"I would love to be in his plans but he has not called me yet."

Zabaleta has had little trouble settling into Manchester life, with plenty of Spanish speakers around to make the whole process easier.

Indeed, he claims to prefer Manchester to Barcelona, a statement that might come as a surprise given the glamour of the location he left behind.

"I want to play for Manchester City for a long time," he said.

"I enjoy life here, I don't even mind the rain!

"It's different here from Barcelona, but I like it. It's a great opportunity for me as a person and I am sure Manchester City can grow bigger and the players here can change the history of the club."

Zabaleta is hoping to aid City's progress into the last eight of the UEFA Cup by helping them overcome Aalborg, who they meet in the first leg at Eastlands on Thursday.

Record signing Robinho is a doubt, although he has returned from Brazil claiming major improvement has been made with an ankle injury that has plagued him since December.