As the negotiations for Florian Thauvin's renewal with Olympique Marseille seem to be stalling for several weeks now, with the Frenchman is demanding a salary increase, the club's board, for its part, only offers him a slight pay rise, which is below what other European teams would provide him, including AC Milan who are the frontrunners in this transfer race.
According to L'Equipe, the fact that OM are not willing to meet their star player's demands could have partly something to do with his teammate Dimitri Payet, since the latter has extended his contract with the Ligue 1 side last year until 2024, with a 50% drop in his salary for this season and 30% for the next as well as a promise of a reconversion in a role of a sports director in the future.
In fact, this decision has slowed down extensions of many players, including Thauvin, who criticized Payet for having done this behind the back of his colleagues, who were trying to retain their emoluments when Covid-19 began to strike.