'Convince Barcelona!' - Suarez wants MLS move, claims Lodeiro

Seattle Sounders attacker Nico Lodeiro has claimed Barcelona star Luis Suarez wants to play in MLS and a move to the competition is "only a matter of time". 

Lodeiro and Suarez are good friends having lined up for Uruguay together, with the former set to compete in the MLS Cup final on Sunday against Toronto FC. 

While Lodeiro is fully focused on the decider, he's quickly turned heads by declaring Suarez will sooner or later play in MLS. 

According to the Sounders star, the Barca striker has always shown an interest in the league and likes what he's seen. 

“I think you need to convince Barcelona. He (Suarez) wants to come to MLS,” Lodeiro told MLSsoccer.com. “He is always asking me about the league.

"His dream was to play for Barcelona. He’s playing at a great level and he feels comfortable there.

“Sooner or later he’ll come to MLS. Well, hopefully! He likes the league. He’s always asking me things about it. Hopefully he can also play for Seattle Sounders. It may be a more difficult task.

"I think it’s only a matter of time before he’s out here.”

Suarez, now 32, is contracted at Camp Nou until the summer of 2021 and is now into his sixth season at Barcelona since departing Liverpool in 2014.

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Lodeiro, meanwhile, moved to MLS in 2016 after a stint with Boca Juniors and has represented the Sounders for the past four seasons - winning the Western Conference three times in the process. 

With Suarez now linked with a move to North America, it's worth noting he played an intriguing role in sealing Lodeiro's move to Seattle. 

Sounders general manager Garth Lagerwey revealed in 2016 that Suarez unexpectedly got on the phone with him as he was negotiating with Lodeiro, and even joked about a future move to Seattle himself. 

"I was talking and Nico’s English is actually pretty, pretty good, but he isn’t always so comfortable on the phone," Lagerway said. 

“You don’t have body language, it’s harder than it is straight to the face and so he just got frustrated that he couldn’t understand everything that I’m saying. And so he says, ‘Hold on, speak to my friend,’ and I said, ‘OK,’ and I have no idea what’s happening. And Luis Suarez gets on and says, ‘Hi, this is Luis Suarez, how are you?’ And I’m like, ‘Morning, Mr Suarez, how are you?’ And he was our translator.

“He (Suarez) told me maybe he comes in seven years. That was his quote, so maybe that’s when his contract runs out. I told him we’d love to have him whenever he was ready, but it was just a funny little anecdote along the way.”