FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas said Saturday that Luis Suárez will be the one to decide whether he remains with the club next season, but emphasized that the door remains open.
The 38-year-old joined Inter Miami in December 2023 on a one-year contract, before the forward decided to extend the deal through the 2025 Major League Soccer season. His current contract is set to expire in the hours following the team's MLS Cup appearance on Saturday.
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"Luis Suárez is a legend of football, he is one of the best nines not only of this generation but of all time. Luis will have to make a decision when the season is over, so tomorrow," Mas told reporters ahead of the clash with the Vancouver Whitecaps at Chase Stadium.
"In terms of the club, I want to say this because I have read a lot about Luis, I'll say it in this context: If in the beginning of the year, they gave us a paper about a center forward that played more than 4000 minutes and scored more than 15/16 goals and 16/17 assists, everyone here would sign that paper to have a forward like that.
"Luis deserves to be able to make that decision to be able to leave through the front door and be celebrated like he should be by the club. And if he decides to stay at the club for another year, it would be great. I would like to see Suárez stay.
"Obviously then the conversations would be how Luis Suárez would stay, but obviously we would include [head coach, Javier] Mascherano and Luis, but the decision is up to him."
Suárez concluded the 2025 MLS regular season with 10 goals and 10 assists in 28 appearances, before going on to record one assist in four playoff matches.
Mascherano recently made the call to replace Suárez with Mateo Silvetti in the starting lineup, incorporating the Argentine teenager in the previous three games for Inter Miami.
The decision originally stemmed from Suárez earning a one-game suspension for the final game of the Round One best-of-three series against Nashville SC, but Mascherano continued to play with the offensive trident of Silvetti, Lionel Messi and Tadeo Allende following the end of Suárez's ban.
"At the end of the day, Luis [picked up the suspension], and that's the reason we have a squad of players," said Miami co-owner David Beckham. "That's the reason we have a squad of good players that can come in and make a difference.
"When Luis picked up the suspension, there was an opportunity for someone else to come in and those players that come in have done really well, so that's the opportunities that come along. It's why we build a squad of players."
Inter Miami heads into MLS Cup against the Whitecaps on Saturday after recording three consecutive victories with four or more goals. The team won 4-0 against Nashville, 4-0 against FC Cincinnati and 5-1 over New York City FC in the Eastern Conference final to reach the league final for the first time.