Argentina captain Lionel Messi wants to play at the 2026 World Cup, according to his Inter Miami teammate Luis Suárez.

Messi, 37, the Most Valuable Player at the last World Cup, has not announced if he intends to play in next year’s tournament, which will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Suárez, when asked if he has spoken about retirement with Messi, told El Pais: “No, we do talk [about it]. Jokingly, many times, but he [Messi] also has that desire to play in next year’s World Cup. Obviously, after being away from the national team for a while, that desire is fading more on my side than on his, but we haven’t talked about it [retirement] yet.”

Eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi enjoyed perhaps his finest hour at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar where Argentina bounced back from a surprise 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia in their opener to win the tournament. Messi followed that triumph with another by leading Argentina to the 2024 Copa América.

Argentina have already qualified for next year’s World Cup.

However, the Uruguay forward stopped short of confirming Messi will play.

When asked if Messi had told him if he will play at the event, Suárez said: “No, no, no, I don’t ask him either … I know what he is like and I don’t ask him anything regarding that. Time will tell.”

Meanwhile, Suárez has not decided when he is going to stop playing.

Asked if he is considering retiring from football at the end of the year, Suarez said: “Time will tell how long I’ll be able to do it [for], but I still have that flame of wanting to play, of wanting to compete.

“As long as that flame is lit I will want to continue competing until I can take it no longer. I don’t have a deadline of this [year] or the next. But as long as I’m still keen, still up to it and showing it, I’m going to continue enjoying it.”

Suárez said he still has targets to reach.

The former Barcelona forward is 13 goals away from reaching 600 career goals and 34 goals away from entering the top 10 all-time leading scorers in football history.

“Despite being 38 years old, I set my mind on reaching a figure which, for a Uruguayan footballer, would be something unique, something incredible, like finishing in the top 10 of the all-time leading goalscorers in football history,” he said.

“I try to enjoy it, I feel this desire to keep adding these aims to achieve them.”

Suárez, who has scored four goals and set up six more in 13 appearances in his second season at Inter Miami, is not ruling out extending his contract with the Herons which expires at the end of the year.

“If I feel capable and they [Inter Miami] see that I am capable of helping, they are willing [to renew],” he said. “But it [the season] has just started, we have been going for a couple of months, we are going to see how both the club and I finish the year, and then we will see what happens.

“I’m happy about the club’s current situation, that for the first time in its history it has reached the semifinals of the [Concacaf Champions Cup]. I’m really excited and enjoying the growth of the team.”