Does Luis Suarez respect his teammates at Liverpool?
Surely if he did, the Uruguayan would not have waited until he was at the other end of the world before dropping last week's bombshell that he wants out.
Liverpool people have lost their jobs for Suarez and risked their reputations supporting him over the past two years.
Sure, the Reds hierarchy insist Kenny Dalglish's removal had nothing to do over his handling of Suarez's feud with Manchester United fullback Patrice Evra 18 months ago. But you can bet it didn't help. Dalglish's crime, for some anyway, was that he actually gave Suarez the benefit of the doubt in the immediate aftermath of his childish handshake snub at Old Trafford.
The Scot stood there in the post-match refusing to believe Suarez's actions - just as Brendan Rodgers did after the biting incident against Chelsea - refusing to think badly of the club's No7.
Then think of his teammates, the t-shirts and the backlash they individually copped for supporting Suarez in his race row with Evra. Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Pepe Reina ... they all went above and beyond for Suarez, believing in their teammate.
And this is how he repays that support? Thousands of miles away from Anfield. Cut off from any protest or confrontation about making good on what the club has done for him, supporting him, standing by him?
It's too easy for Suarez and his camp to claim it is the English media which are driving him out. No-one told him to chomp on Branislav Ivanovic's shoulder against Chelsea. This was Suarez's doing. He's accountable. No-one else.
But now, after all the support the club has given Suarez, Brendan Rodgers, the Liverpool manager, finds himself in an almost no-win situation. So soon after Jamie Carragher's retirement, what tone would it set if he took Suarez back? Does Liverpool, with all its past history, really want to be one of those clubs where foreign players - and their agents - constantly tout themselves elsewhere?
It will happen, unless Rodgers cracks down.
Rodgers, a life-long Red, knows the club deserves better and for all the on-field struggles, Liverpool's reputation and profile across the world has not been sullied. But that can quickly change if it's most high profile players feel comfortable running down the club while talking up the prospects of moving elsewhere.
The problem is Suarez is head and shoulders Liverpool's best player and as Fernando Torres' sale has shown, the money generated still needs to be spent well.
But it's difficult to see any result other than his sale.
However, as it was mentioned on our Facebook page over the weekend, if Suarez leaves for the Santiago Bernabeu, what does this say about Real Madrid?
Will the critics of Jose Mourinho - Ramon Calderon, the former Real president, Barcelona director Carles Villarubi, the Madrid press et al - show the same disdain for Suarez's arrival? Don't hold your breath.
Liverpool should take Real for as much as they can.
