Italian police have seized earrings from Argentina's football coach Diego Maradona in an effort to recover unpaid taxes from his playing days at Napoli.

Maradona handed over the earrings, worth some 4,000 euros (£3,600), at a health clinic in northern Italy.

Italian news agency Ansa said Maradona faced a bill of 37m euros from his time at Napoli, where he played a starring role between 1984 and 1991.

His trip to the health clinic follows a string of defeats for Argentina.

The results, for which Maradona has taken much of the blame, have left the team in danger of not qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 1970.

The Argentina coach, a regular visitor to the health clinic, was reportedly being treated for weight problems and stress.

Three years ago, police took two Rolex watches worth an estimated 10,000 euros from Maradona during a visit to Naples.

At the time, the tax police said it was acting on a judicial order authorising the seizure of anything of value "within plain sight".

// posted by Paul Scott @ 4:08 am