It is this. It's been a while since a high profile player has done it but it used to happen even more often to City. Whenever a player wants a fat contract, they leak a story about how "moneybags" City will buy them as a negotiating tactic. Messi was culprit number 1. Over the last few years it has died down a bit because everyone has started to see that the club is run much more responsibly than the stereotype suggests.
There's no way of knowing what it is at the moment outside of feelings and vibes.