I do wonder how much influence Kalezić's had on the recent departing players. If this whole "we decided not to hire him 6 months ago" spiel is correct, then surely he has had ample time to watch (at least on TV) the Nix and have some sort of influence.
The other thing I'm struggling to work out (re: "we were going to hire him 6 months ago") is why the visa supposedly took so long to sort.
Dome said that every departing player was looked at by Kalezić and that none of them were offered a contract. He watched last seasons games before making his decisions. It might be a good thing that he didn't start mid season as he could get rid of players based purely on what he saw and not any personal connection.
The visa didn't seem to take long to sort, these things take time and they can't begin the process until he's got the job. As was stated above it appears that the issues mid seasons was that negotiations were ongoing.