That’s a contradiction no? He ummed and ahhed and almost stayed despite working his socks off to get himself in to a position where Marseille - a big club who play European football every season - wanted to buy him. Most players - even those who didnt support Marseille as a youth - would have forced that through, downed tools, whatever needed to be done.
Yes he went in the end but sounds like Marseille played very dirty and we had left ourselves the possibility of him leaving for free in 12 months.