What he's saying clearly isn't 100% of the situation but I do think everything about him as a manager supports the idea of there being a meeting and him saying I think I have these gaps and largely leaving it to the back office team to find players. It'll then be something like "we can get this guy for £Xm which will fill that gap" and Emery simply taking a quick look (so 5-6 hours of highlights for him) and giving a thumbs up.
He likes control but I get the impression that it's as much by getting people to take responsibility for things he's trusted to them so that, as a collective, everything is in control. Look at the set pieces for example, he goes and sits down so McPhee can be the guy in the technical area, that's not a control freak who wants to own everything but rather someone who likes to have clear boundaries between responsibilities and will do everything he can to give people as much autonomy as they need.
So yes, if he knows a player he specifically wants to work with (Pau, Rogers) then he'll step in and ask for the team to chase them, otherwise I think he's pretty open to suggestions and willing to try working with players who might be 6-12 months away from ready to play for him. I think this is also a guideline for which players become indispensable. Buy into the plan completely like Watkins, Rogers and McGinn and he'll back you, even if the form isn't quite there.
For transfers specifically that creates a bit of a problem where some players have the right technical and physical attributes but they just don't fit attitude wise. That's difficult because it must be really hard to assess before they're in the camp and working with us.
