The Barcelona forward skippered the national side to the final of the tournament in Brazil, with his goals in the group stage proving particularly important.
Messi will be back in international action this summer at the Copa America in Chile, this time under the guidance of Martino – his former Barca boss who replaced Alejandro Sabella after after the Albiceleste's loss to Germany in the showpiece.
"We are facing a much more mature Messi, who is much better equipped mentally and this has a lot to do with what happened at the last World Cup,” he told Diario Popular.
“We might have fewer spectacular players individually than other Copa America rivals, but we have players who participate more for the team than others. For me that is good.”
Angel Di Maria was one of the best players for Argentina at World Cup 2014 and, though his form has nosedived with Manchester United this season, Martino has no plans to drop the winger from his team.
“Obviously it's costing Di Maria and abrupt changes [like his transfer from Real Madrid last year] often affect footballers detrimentally,” he added.
“Anyway, I'm not worried about him because it's not the form of the player that concerns me, but the relationship he has with the team. Form is temporary.”
Martino also branded Valencia defender Nicolas Otamendi the greatest in his position in the world, along with reserving praise for his Argentina team-mate Ezequiel Garay.
“You cannot deny the excellent impact that Otamendi and Garay have brought to this team,” he added. “I think that Otamendi is now the best centre-back in the world, he just doesn't get much attention.”
Argentina have been drawn with Uruguay, Paraguay and Jamaica in their Copa America group.
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