Presidents of the clubs from Argentina’s Primera Divison have banded together to campaign having Pep Guardiola replace Diego Maradona.

Named the 'Project Guardiola 2010,' the various supremos see Guardiola as the right man for the Albicelestes job, as he knows how to get the best out of Lionel Messi.

"Argentina has a diamond in the rough, it is Messi, and none of the national experts have been able to get the best out of him. In contrast with Guardiola at Barcelona, Messi won three tournaments in a year," Marca quotes the group from a statement.

The Project also states that the only other trainer to get Messi firing on all cylinders for Argentina was Sergio Batista, who guided Argentina to Olympic gold in Beijing 2008, but they insist that the coach does not have the prerequisites to coach the senior side.

"Some people don't want a foreign coach, but national coaches have failed to exploit Messi's ability, except [Sergio] Batista but he is not qualified to lead the national side," said a club president who requested anonymity.

There are indications that the Argentine Football Association will offer Guardiola a contract after the South African World Cup, and they are hoping that Spain wins the World Cup next summer.

"Argentina are virtually out of the World Cup so we need to pray that Spain win it, so they don't go looking for Guardiola as coach."