I have a similar take on it mate...
In a transfer like this, involving a player who has been with one club for his entire career, making that break is a big part of it. A lot of thought goes in to how it is positioned to the fans... Messi's video has already prepared them for his departure, in a way he's already done one of the hardest things, publicly explaining his reasoning for wanting a move.
The video wasn't a Barca PR exercise, far from it. He was scathing and made it clear he is only there because they went back on their promises and won't let him leave.
I do wonder if his lawyers had told him his case wasn't very strong and was unlikely to hold up in court, so instead he pushed the move as far as he could, in the hope Barca would relent? When that didn't work, him saying the only reason he didn't pursue it was because he loves Barca so much helps to keep the fans on his side...
I'd actually be more surprised if we don't bid for him in this window. Aside from the denial that players would be involved in a swap deal, we haven't distanced ourselves from being interested. If it was dead, I think we would have put something out to imply we had moved on.
If City are confident that Messi would sign a pre-contract agreement in January and Barca know that too, they would be mad not to take a significant fee for him now. Maybe Bartomeu is spiteful enough to do that, but given their finances he could arguably spin it to make him out to be a hero for preventing Messi leaving for free and instead getting a substantial fee for an unhappy player, who would have walked away for free in 12 months.
Maybe he will end up staying, but I don't think this is done yet.
