A house once owned by Argentine football legend Diego Maradona looks set to be demolished after it was put up for auction and failed to sell.
The house – bought for the star’s parents – was put up for sale by Maradona’s children after their world-famous dad died from a heart attack in 2020.
But the property in Buenos Aires – which was listed with a starting price of USD 900,000 (GBP 688,000) – failed to sell.
And now a plan has emerged to knock it down and sell the land for development.
The Buenos-Aires-based Adrian Mercado Auctions, which is marketing the site, confirmed the plans to demolish the building to allow the new owner to build a new property.
It will come with permission for a three-storey building with a balcony or terrace at the front, subject to permission being granted by a judge’s ruling on the star’s assets.
Maradona earned about USD 43 million (GBP 32.9 million) between 1984 and 1991 while leading Napoli to the Serie A crown and helping Argentina capture the World Cup.
His infamous ‘hand of God’ handball goal kept England out of the 1986 World Cup semi-finals.
But he had barely USD 100,000 (GBP 76,400) left when he died, and the house was expected to be the star attraction at an auction that in the end raised just USD 26,000 (GBP 19,900).
In addition to the Villa Devoto district villa, there were other valuable properties that could not be sold, such as a two-room apartment in Mar del Plata, which had a starting price of USD 65,000 (GBP 49,700).
The two-storey property features a swimming pool in the patio area.
Adrian Mercado said the sale included luxurious belongings of all kinds, such as cars, houses, clothes and balls, and that 22 items remained unsold after the 19th December sale.
The item that earned the most was the painting ‘Entre Fiorito y el cielo’ (‘Between Fiorito and Heaven’) by artist Lu Sedova, which sold for USD 2,150 (GBP 1,640).
Among those items without bids were two BMWs (asking prices USD 225,000 [GBP 172,000] and USD 165,000 [GBP 126,000]) and a Hyundai multi-seater (USD 38,000 [GBP 29,000]).
Civil and commercial judge Luciana Tedesco del Rivero granted Maradona’s children – Diego, Giannina, Dalma, Jana and Diego Fernando – permission to move forward with the estate auction in October.
Tedesco del Rivero instructed that all proceeds will go towards covering the debt they have incurred from the warehouse where Maradona’s belongings are being stored in two freight containers.
Tedesco del Rivero said in a court document: “The auction is carried out because both the houses and the cars generated expenses that the heirs had to face out of their own pockets.”
