Striker Luis Suarez wants to extend his contract with Inter Miami so he can continue playing alongside Lionel Messi until both eventually retire at club level.
Suarez joined Inter Miami at the end of 2023 and is currently under contract with the pink-shirted club until the end of the 2025 MLS season. When asked about his future, the former Uruguay international stopped short of making a clear commitment but expressed his desire to retire in Miami with his close friend Messi.
“Personally, I want to enjoy this time with the club and retire alongside Leo, because we’ve talked about this for many years,” the 38-year-old striker said on August 19 at a press conference ahead of Miami’s Leagues Cup quarterfinal clash with Tigres.
According to Suarez, he and Messi will consider the circumstances before making the right decision at the right time, should they extend their contracts.
Both Suarez and Messi, who were teammates at Barcelona, have enjoyed notable success in MLS. Together, they helped Miami lift the 2024 Supporters’ Shield, while Messi—who arrived before Suarez—also won the 2023 Leagues Cup. Messi has yet to sign an extension with the Florida club, but according to U.S. outlet The Athletic, all signs point to him staying.
Suarez has long battled chronic knee issues dating back to his European career. After scoring 20 goals in his first MLS season, his output has dipped in 2025. Still, alongside his six goals this season, Suarez has recorded 10 assists, ranking among Miami’s all-time leaders in that category.
“I’m a generous number nine,” he joked about missing chances. “But when I don’t score, I get angry. I’m very demanding of myself, and I know I can contribute more to the team. Sometimes it’s circumstances, sometimes poor finishing, or simply bad timing—which is normal in football—that stop me from helping the team as much as I want.”
He also admitted that the 2025 season has been more physically challenging. The long MLS offseason, from November 2024 to February 2025, affected his sharpness early on. This year, Miami has been competing on multiple fronts: MLS, the CONCACAF Champions Cup (reaching the semifinals), and the FIFA Club World Cup (quarterfinals).
“The body needs time to adapt again to the physical demands,” Suarez said. “It’s during high-intensity training that I feel it most. But once matches get going, you start to feel better. The more you play, the more rhythm you find. Don’t think that playing too many games makes recovery harder—I’ve never really had a problem with that.”
To date, Suarez has collected more than 20 club trophies and numerous individual awards. But he still hopes to add more silverware in the final years of his career with Miami. “If we approach matches like we did at the FIFA Club World Cup, Miami can win both the Leagues Cup and MLS Cup. We set very high goals,” he said.
Suarez also stressed that he and many others in MLS did not come to wind down their careers. “That’s not true. People can see we still get angry and fired up on the pitch, because we still have the hunger to compete and the desire to win no matter what league we’re in. That DNA is what took us to the top of our careers, and we’ll keep it until the very end,” he concluded.