He specifically said that there was no project whatsoever in the last few years, the board only tried to plug holes without a long term vision or anything like that. City definitely has one. I mean, not even Barca fans themselves deny that. There are the ones that defend Messi, there are the ones that criticize him (though the interview may have convinced many of those I guess) but you won't find a single one defending Bartomeu.
Barc a paid a PR agency in order to publicly damage the reputation of Messi (among others, like Pique, Xavi and Laporte) ffs. And not in the context of this transfer request but the election campaign of Bartomeu. This story surfaced as early as February and the allegations seem profound enough for the Spanish police to start fraud investigations. Let that sink in, this is completely wicked.
Honestly, I can't understand people not siding with Messi in this whole circus. Yes, Barca is the villain in this story. The only reason Messi's still there seems to be that he's not willing to drag them to court.