Luis Suarez of Atletico Madrid has no plans on retiring as he tops LaLiga scoring charts

Luis Suarez has hit out at suggestions from ‘some people’ that he should have retired in the summer, insisting that ‘no one will get rid of me’ before he is ready. 

The 34-year-old is in the form of his life at Atletico Madrid and tops the LaLiga scoring chart with an astonishing 16 goals in 19 games, one goal ahead of his close friend and former Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi. 

‘I still feel like I’m enjoying this moment that I’m in today, in football’s elite,’ Suarez told ESPN. 

‘Being at Atletico, you’re in football’s elite. Some people didn’t believe that I could still be at this level. I’ve got the same enthusiasm.

‘I hope that this year, next year and for however many years it is, I keep competing and giving my best, until you realise that you’ve gone as far as you can.

‘But no one will get rid of me. I’ll decide when I go.’  

Suarez’s glittering career at the Nou Camp – which saw him win a Champions League and four LaLiga titles – came to an unceremonious end last summer after Barca manager Ronald Koeman told the Uruguayan he was no longer needed at the club.

Picked up by Atletico in a deal eventually worth £5million, many observers suggested Suarez was on his way out of the game, having had an underwhelming final season with Barcelona by his usual exceptionally high standards.  

But he has emphatically proved the doubters wrong, with his goals powering Atletico to the top of LaLiga with a six-point lead over nearest rivals Real Madrid. 

Suarez said the hunger to keep going and improving has never left him. 

‘I’m one of those players who has always characterised himself as being stubborn,’ he said.

‘When I try something two, three, four times and it doesn’t work out, I’m not one of those players who will let their head drop, who will disappear. 

‘I’ll keep trying, because I’ve been that way since I was a kid.’