There are so many options here, it's fair to say that nobody has a clue. Say Rafa want's a player? He then mentions it to Hicks in order to see if it can be progressed. Hicks doesn't want to be seen to block anything as it will threaten his position, so he says ok. He then leaks it, thereby scuppering it and causing Parry problems. Of course, Rafa knows this, so he may not want the player in the first place. He may just be trying to flush things out into the open, as he would not want to show his hand yet and lose any real targets. Surely he knows that the current situation makes it very difficult to pursue any real targets? So firstly, Rafa wants to clarify matters before the window opens, otherwise, he may lose his transfer targets. Secondly, any "working" problems may be useful as evidence in court against Hicks.