Luis Suarez’s new Inter Miami deal makes sense - if he accepts a reduced role

In truth, Suarez’s one-year deal comes as something of a surprise. The Uruguayan is, without doubt, the finest striker of his generation. Only four active players have more goal contributions across all competitions. He has scored and assisted wherever he has gone, regardless of league, level or system. Neither his résumé nor the eye test can reasonably be questioned.

Yet there is little doubt that his powers have waned over the last 12 months - and perhaps for longer. Suarez remains a high-effort player, still willing to run and put in the yards for his team. But his legs are gone. He has admitted repeatedly that he requires injections to play and is, effectively, damaging his knees every time he steps onto the pitch.

“On the inside, I have cartilage wear, and that hits the bone. The days before each game, I take three pills, and hours before playing, I get an injection. If not, I can’t play,” he said in 2023.

After being benched, Suarez was handed a perfectly reasonable opportunity to walk away. The narrative almost wrote itself. Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba - two of his closest friends and key reasons behind his move to MLS - had both retired. His numbers had fallen off a cliff; more on that later. And most importantly, he was out of contract, with no obvious suitors. This felt like the perfect ticket into retirement.

Yet Suarez has made it clear that he has no intention of walking away from the game. Miami, too, have been open in their insistence that all of their stars will be allowed - if not encouraged - to pen new deals.

"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 Suarez stay. Obviously, then the conversations would be how Luis Suarez would stay, but obviously we would include [manager Javier] Mascherano and Luis, but the decision is up to him," owner Jorge Mas said before MLS Cup final. 

That, at least, is the logic behind the move. Suárez has earned the right to walk away from the game on his own terms, and Miami are not committing Designated Player money to keep him. In return, the club retains a footballing icon in the locker room at a minimal cost. While the terms of the deal have not been made public - contracts typically are not until the regular season begins - there is little indication that Suárez’s salary limits Miami’s flexibility elsewhere. The club, for example, is leading the race to sign 2025 Goalkeeper of the Year Dayne St. Clair. 

It is also true that his stay at the club likely keeps Lionel Messi happy. The duo remain good friends, and even if Rodrigo De Paul's arrival last summer gave the Argentine a running mate of sorts, locker room dynamics are important. Suarez remains a key part of that. The sentiment, then, makes sense - especially if the finances are agreeable.

But there is also soccer to consider here. The first thing that needs to be acknowledged is that Suarez is not a net negative over the course of a regular season. With him in the team week in, week out, Miami finished third in the Eastern Conference and were one point away from claiming back-to-back Supporters’ Shields.

Still, having him in the XI exposes flaws that opponents have been quick to exploit. Try as he might - and Suarez deserves credit for his willingness to run - the Uruguayan can no longer press and help defend at a high level. The result is a front line that offers little resistance, making Miami far too easy to play through.

Messi does not defend; at this stage of his career, he simply cannot be a two-way player. Suarez, meanwhile, struggles to keep up with the pace of the game. With minimal pressure on the ball up front and an already imbalanced midfield behind them, Miami are left dangerously exposed. In effect, when Suarez starts, the team is operating a man short defensively.

Over the regular season, when energy must be managed, that trade-off can be absorbed. In the playoffs, when opponents go flat out, it becomes a critical flaw - and one Atlanta United exploited to knock Miami out in 2024.

Those flaws would be forgivable if Suarez was still delivering at the other end. And in 2024, he did. Suarez scored 21 goals and added 10 assists in 32 appearances, providing Miami with a genuine second goal threat. At 38, he was still among the league’s elite strikers. When Messi missed time with an ankle injury, Suárez led the line with aplomb.

In 2025, however, his finishing deserted him. He scored just 10 times in the regular season and failed to find the net in the playoffs. The chances were still there, but his shot conversion rate halved, dropping from 26 percent to 13 percent. He continued to contribute creatively - finishing with 11 assists, fifth-most in MLS - but the goals were gone.

And more than anything, the proof was in the results. When Suarez was suspended in the playoffs, Miami turned to 19-year-old Argentine midfielder Silvetti. He is half Suarez’s age, and he can simply run more. Miami won all four of their remaining matches and conceded just twice.

So what, exactly, is there to like here? If Suarez is no longer a top option, if Miami operate more smoothly without him, if his shooting numbers have declined, what does he actually bring?

Well, there are a few possibilities here. The first is that last season was just a terrible slump. Suarez, for whatever reason, had the same number of chances but found the net less. He was still getting into good spots and receiving the ball in the right areas. His eye for goal might have just evaded him. There is a world in which that deadly instinct returns and Suarez bags 15-20 again. That would be a welcome outcome - and enough to make a decent case for his insertion back into the Miami lineup. Suarez made it clear, in fact, that he wants to prove he can still perform from the start: 

"That’s the coach’s decision, and I have to accept it with no problem and try to do things better to play more minutes. Also, you have to applaud and see how well the team is playing, and when a team is playing so well, with a great dynamic, we have to celebrate that as a group," he told the Miami Herald. 

There is also the less favorable option for the man himself, but no-brainer for Miami: Suarez, on pedigree alone, would certainly be the best bench striker MLS can offer. Miami will play in MLS, the Leagues Cup, CONCACAF Champions Cup, and certainly the MLS Playoffs, too. There will need to be a backup forward available here, either as a 70th-minute option every game, or a rotational starter. That wouldn't be a bad option whatsoever. 

Yet there remains something undeniably sad about all of this. Suarez is a great of the game. A player of his stature should be scoring goals, winning trophies, and starting matches. Football is easy to romanticize, and in an ideal world, Suarez would have gone out on top, with just a little more left in the tank. He could have left Miami in 2024. He could, perhaps, have hung up his boots before ever moving to South Florida. This is a calibre of footballer that should not be asked to settle.

And yet, settling appears to be the reality. At this stage of his career, Suarez actively makes Miami worse when he starts, while earning relatively little to spend long stretches on the bench. If Javier Mascherano holds his nerve and coaches this team without sentiment, then Suarez simply should not be in the starting XI.

There is evidence to suggest that both sides understand that. Suarez admitted he did not enjoy watching from the sidelines, but accepted that sitting out during the latter rounds of Miami’s playoff run was for the good of the team. While he has since insisted that he plans to fight for a starting spot, Suarez is not naïve. He understands the realities of the modern game. Mascherano, too, has praised the Uruguayan for accepting his reduced role.

Perhaps most importantly, when Miami beat Vancouver to lift MLS Cup, Suarez was there on the pitch, hat on, trophy in hand, beaming. It was a fitting image - a footballing legend collecting another medal. Suarez played his part in that run. But if Miami are to do it again, his role will have to shrink even further.