He is a real confidence player and I think coming into a club as just another signing puts him on the back foot - maybe feels he has to try too hard, does too muct etc?
The A League is not a terrible league, but it would be a shame if at his age, he said thats as good of a level I can get to.
There was a discussion on another forum about how Australian coaches never seem to make it overseas, the general consensus was that the A-League is a pleasant environment, players and coaches are close, teams are encouraged to be like families, and coaches get a lot of time to bed in systems and build up a team. In Europe if you don't succeed your cut.
It could be that the A-League is Marcos level not because he's not skill full enough for a higher level but at the A-League he's going to be the big fish and have teams built around him, he's going to be given whatever he needs to succeed, and teams will be patient with him. In Europe he's just a bench warmer, even though he's better than the incumbants he might not have the tenacity to prove it.