Why come out with a big story about if it's unlikely to happen anyhow?
Perhaps his source isn’t the club.
He is a journalist first and foremost and wants to report on actualities, things of interest. If it ends up getting done or progressing then I’m sure he’d rather mention our interest now than out of the blue.
He doesn’t have the clubs interests at heart, so I don’t think he would care too much if it gets done or doesn’t get done and how that would potentially look for the club. Think he is genuinely just reporting our interest with the caveat that it’s unlikely.