MLS MVP Carlos Vela preferred to stand aside from the Mexican national team after the 2018 World Cup, but the 30-year-old has refused to state that his career with El Tri is definitely over.
The Cancun native has had a rocky relationship with Mexico and famously refused to be make himself available for the 2014 World Cup, although the prospect of him suiting up for El Tri again is still open.
"Everything is possible in this life," said Vela in an ESPN interview on Monday, when asked if there is a chance he has played his last game in a Mexico shirt.
Vela added that he would like to retire with LAFC, but didn't rule out a potential move further down the line to first club Chivas, or Club America, where his friend Giovani dos Santos currently plays.
"You can't close the door on anybody," stated Vela. "You don't know where you'll end up. I'm open to listening to proposals, options, it doesn't hurt. In the end I'll decide what is best for me and my family when it's time."
Vela was named 2019 MLS MVP on Monday after scoring 34 goals and 15 assists over a 2019 season in which LAFC's devastating form raised the question of whether the team is the best MLS has seen.
But Vela's believes the loss in the Western Conference final to Seattle Sounders last week rules LAFC out of that equation.
"[It wasn't a] failure, but it [also] wasn't the historic year we were on course for," said Vela of a team that finished 16 points ahead of its closest conference rival. "The most important part of the year was to win MLS [Cup] and we missed out. We can't consider ourselves the best team in [MLS] history because we didn't win the championship."
Vela's LAFC will be involved in the CONCACAF Champions League round of 16 stage starting on Feb. 18 meaning it is likely to be a shorter off-season for the Mexican than last season, when he was linked to a loan move to Barcelona.