straight up say they can’t compete is bad.

I think i messed up a little. Here is his statement -

We will try to compete with Madrid, but I think the fans have to understand that the situation is very tough. First of all on a financial level. We can no longer say: ‘We want this player, and this player’. We do not have the same conditions as the other clubs with a good financial situation. The Barcelona fans have to understand that. That doesn’t mean we can’t challenge, but that’s Barça’s situation at the moment. We need time and stability, but we will also try to compete.

Very reasonable statement to make in my opinion