Newcastle United winger Jonas Gutierrez will always be grateful to Diego Maradona for his support.

Maradona was willing to select Jonas for Argentina while Toon were in the Championship.

"That experience with Maradona was unbelievable. I didn't know him before that and he didn't know me," Jonas told The Journal.

"He had a lot of confidence in me and I will always be thankful for that. I did my best for him and in all the games I can - he gave me the opportunity to stay at Newcastle.

"He gave me a big hand at that moment by saying it's not a problem where I play as long as I play. It would have been a very difficult situation for me if he had said I needed to be playing in the Premier League. But he had faith in me, and for that I say thank you."