Also, if the rebbe wanted to dispel the notion that he was being considered moshiach, it would have been a lot more direct to simply issue a public statement to this effect. Simply not visiting eretz yisroel is a very subtle message, no? If people were claiming that I was moshiach, I would emphatically deny it.
As it happens to be, someone thinking they’re moshiach in and of itself is not disqualifying. It’s the megalomania that generally accompanies such a belief that is. It’s not appropriate to say who, but there was a great rebbeh who believed himself to have the neshoma of moshiach for his generation. He once answered a talmid who asked him why he doesn’t talk about moshiach (since most other rebbes did) with a moshol. He said that by a wedding, everyone’s talking about the choson…. except the choson himself. This is also not hearsay; it’s in an old sefer of zichronos about this rebbe. This rebbe is also a household name in both litvishe and chasidishe families.
Needless to say, no one claimed he was moshiach after his petirah.