Buenos Aires (AFP)

The private life of Diego Maradona, tormented by numerous legal and media disputes, suggests a difficult succession after the death of the planetary star on Wednesday at the age of 60.

"A big fight will take place. He did not leave a will," a source close to the family told AFP who requested anonymity.

After the death of the 1986 world champion, it was impossible to know the heritage at stake or to know if he made a distribution during his lifetime.

In 2019, during a dispute with his daughter Gianinna, who accused his "entourage" of not taking good care of him, Maradona threatened to donate all his assets, including investments, properties, luxury cars, contracts advertising, among others.

"I know now when you get older people care more about what you leave than what you are doing. And I tell them all I'm not going to leave them anything, that I'm going to give everything . Everything I got in my life, I will give it, "he said in a recorded message.

But Argentine law establishes that two-thirds of the inheritance must go to the children and the spouse, and that they cannot be deprived of it.

A single person can donate, by will, one fifth of their property.

Since this threat, the + Diez + and her daughter have reconciled, as evidenced by the affectionate messages posted on social networks by Gianinna and her sister Dalma during Maradona's sixtieth birthday on October 30.

"I have taken advantage of it (of Maradona) at every stage of my life, sometimes being closer to him than today but less far than tomorrow. He is my great example of all that needs to be done and of all that must not be done. I admired him, yesterday today and always. He taught me to forgive, to forgive myself ", had written Gianinna.

Dalma and Gianinna, who Argentina number 10 had with his ex-wife Claudia Villafane, were for years the only daughters recognized by Maradona, but they too had to deal with their father's temperamental emotional life.

- Unrecognized children -

After the death on Wednesday of the world champion, his two daughters - now mothers of 31 and 33 - acted hand in hand with his ex-wife, with whom Maradona was in legal dispute, accusing him to have kept 458 objects from his football career belonging to him.

They made it clear who was in charge, setting the schedule for the wake and burial.

They also decided to limit the public vigil to 10 hours in the Casa Rosada (the presidential palace), leaving little time for fans to meditate.

Claudia Villafane, whom he knew at 15, was his first girlfriend and his only wife, before their divorce in 2003.

A few months before Dalma's birth, Diego Junior had come into the world.

It took 29 years for Maradona to recognize this child, conceived with the Italian Cristina Sinagra.

Affected by the Covid-19, Diego Junior was unable to travel from Italy for the funeral.

In 2008, he recognized Jana, born in 1996, daughter of 10 and Valeria Sabalain, who was closest to him during his last months.

One of the Argentinian's last wishes had been to reunite his children for his 60th birthday, which he was unable to do.

Some relatives believe this has plunged him into a deep depression.

According to his lawyer, Maradona has at least three unrecognized children in Cuba.

© 2020 AFP