Country: England
It was something to do with him being happy to keep Jesus/Zinny but accepting that it was best for the club to sell them.Interesting if true, find it hard to believe a manager with Pep's stature wouldn't have 100% complete control over who his club signs.
I'd assume that there's something similar going on with incomings. Probably a similar approach to Klopp where he tells them the type of player he wants and they bring him a list of a few options.
Around the time we signed Rice I read something that said he wasn't a Pep target per-se but was happy with the signing and had a plan to use him.