I am with C.Biscuit on this (unless he was being sarcastic)
If a player is stoic and refuses to negotiate quickly, he is an a**hole (e.g. Peters). And if a player is reported to be unhappy because he cannot play, he is a sissy ? Come on guys, perhaps this article is for publicity but I rather read a story about a rook feeling bad that he cannot play, than one about one who is goofing off unconcerned about what stage the off-season is in. I see in this story a guy wanting to get on the field and learn. In my books, that is quite all right.
For our team's sake, I really hope he is the hard-working type and turns out to be a dominating player.