Deal would've been done had they agreed to that in the first place. They initially said they didn't want to pay him anything at all, that got bumped to 3.75M after a few weeks and then to 7.5M or something as of last report. If they negotiated in good faith instead of fecking around with him, I think he would've compromised for something like 10m.
You know what, in a normal, functioning organization, I'd expect my boss to be upfront before the saga even began and work out some sort of handshake deal.
Just say okay Frenkie, you're not starting next year. We want to replace you with Bilva. Let's figure something out so we can all walk away happy.