He is a diving wee rat. Defenders probably just started weighing up the consequences of actually smashing him, instead of him throwing himself through the air like a paper plane. Going to get booked for it anyway, so might as well let the cheating wee p***k have a souvenir.
He lost a yard of pace for sure. Problem is, that is all he ever had. He was never a very good footballer to begin with. VAR has basically neutered the guy.