Prob wrong here but the way I see it is ...
Their chairman wants to sell, why would the manager come out and say he wants to keep the player if he wasn't worried the chairman is going to sell him? They must talk to each other so he'll have some idea on the chairman's position, so my guess is the chairman wants to sell or is at the very least open to talks.
The club have been going on about only selling him to a prestigious club, not because they care what club he goes to, if they did and the player wanted to come to us they'd let him, because they think they'll get a higher bid plus it allays annoyance to their own fans, who'll be more understanding if it's to a Man Utd than us, etc.
The chairman is faffing around and delaying in the hope that a big club come in with a higher offer. He knows he's got a quality player to sell and he's trying to draw out the best bid. He'll prob give it a few days to see if any higher bids come in, if they don't I think he will sell to us. We're trying to call his bluff by feigning interest in another play in order to force his hand before any other such bid\club comes in.
From our point of view it's annoying as fans but we just have to hope their chairman gives in.