Agree with the second part but this first part is a very romanticized version of what's happening I think. The whole "I want to be the best, by running from the shadow of the best" doesn't fit the script. Going also in the non-competitive league. That's not something that greatest players do, or have done in the past. It was their aim to play in the best team possible without fear that they will be overshadowed by someone else on that team or in that same league. And they have built their legacies going in the teams where their greatness would be tested under much heavier circumstances during the whole season.
Nobody can know his motives, but the timing of the transfer which is after 31st July so he asked Barca for loyalty bonus, all the money involved in it, going into practically one team league and even more glamorous city sounds to me like an easier, more wealthy way to spend your football years.
And make no mistake, when you see such reasons, it would be pure hypocrisy to say it would be easy to say no. I'm just not buying the whole wanna build the legacy thing.