Sources are weak. My biggest hope is that Panucci mentioned him before our clash against Parma.
Don't read too much into that.
He has no way of knowing anything more than the rest of us. If someone from an other team (or someone from the media) knows anything concrete, it would have been all out in the open by now. Impossible to keep these things secret.
I haven't read the Panucci stuff myself, but I assume he was just asked a hypothetical question, to which he replied in a friendly, respectful manner.