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WHILE Pepe Reina fluttered his eyelashes at Barcelona last week, team-mate Luis Suarez went one step further and pretty much raised his skirt to Real Madrid, pleading ‘take me, take me!’

His brazen behaviour elicited an understandably outraged reaction amongst the Reds fan base, with the majority asking for Suarez to simply be open and honest about his future ambitions.

Except honesty isn’t always the best policy.

Thirty-six years ago a truly magnificent Liverpool number seven was commendably candid about wanting to leave Liverpool, offered 12 months notice of his intention to quit – and even signed off with a European Cup winning performance.

But it wasn’t an amicable parting.

Ivan Ponting’s wonderful Player by Player volume recalled: “Sadly, but perhaps inevitably, there was bitterness on Merseyside when Kevin announced his decision to take his talents to Europe.

“Having been honest enough to give a full season’s notice of his intention, he endured, with commendable dignity, the cooling of the Kop’s ardour and perfidious jibes about his so-called greed.

“How short were the memories of such mealy mouthed critics, and how blindly they lashed out at a man who had given no more than half a dozen below-par performances in as many years at Anfield.”

Kevin Keegan had been adored by the Kop – but the greater the love, the greater the sense of betrayal.

The banner which greeted Luis Figo when he returned to the Nou Camp in Real Madrid white on November 24, 2002 said it all: “We hate you so much, because we loved you so much.”

Luis Suarez has been loved so much by the Reds.

And there will be no easy exit for him whenever he chooses to end his Anfield reign.

Seventh heaven to seven deadly sins

FROM seventh heaven, to seven deadly sins.

Liverpool’s revered number seven shirt has suffered a dramatic slide over the past 20 years.

Heaven? The vibrant explosiveness of Keegan, the mercurial majesty of Dalglish, the occasionally unappreciated genius of Beardsley.

Hell? How about Speedie, Saunders, Clough, Smicer, Kewell and Keane, the men who followed.

So in which category does the current incumbent reside?

In terms of talent, Luis Suarez is right up there with the very greatest number sevens in the club’s history. In terms of legacy . . . he’s currently heading for Fernando Torres territory.