It has been widely reported that Arsene Wenger has gracefully “accepted” Jamie Vardy’s decision to reject Arsenal and stay with Leicester, but there are also conflicting indications that the snubbed Frenchman will now wreak spiteful revenge on the Foxes by buying all the players they want.

Not Troy Deeney - that would be silly - but rather Islam Slimani, the Algerian striker who has been linked with a move to the King Power Stadium for months.

The Star reports that the Gunners are “preparing” a £23m bid for the Sporting Lisbon man, a process which shouldn’t take that long because they presumably have £20m of it pre-prepared from their failed Vardy swoop.

Slimani scored an impressive 27 goals in 33 goals for Sporting last year and his agent recently said he would “score more than Vardy” in the Premier League. Wenger must have been the only one listening.

Manchester United have been told “they can have” Real Madrid midfielder James Rodriguez, says the Mirror. Which sounds pretty sweet, but it’s not quite as generous as it appears because there’s a small caveat that United would have to give the Spanish club £50m in return.

Rodriguez has apparently “put his house up for sale” in anticipation of the move, and he could probably use that to build a property empire in Manchester with his all-powerful Euros.

Bernabeu boss Zinedine Zidane has already started flirting with potential replacements for James, stating in the Mirror that West Ham’s Dimitri Payet “would improve any team in the world”.

If that wasn’t terrifying enough for the Hammers, Zizou goes on to add that, “From a coach’s perspective Payet is everything you look for in an attacking midfield player.“ Yikes.

Everton have decided to officially demand "silly money” for Romelu Lukaku, with the Express claiming that the Toffees have put a £75m price tag on the Belgian striker’s head.

It makes the £40m-rated John Stones seem cheap by comparison, which is why City will reportedly “test the water” by making an imminent offer for the defender, adds the Express.

West Brom are “in talks” with Palermo over a £14m move for midfielder Franco Vasquez (CalcioNews24), although the player’s agent may have been misinforming him about this because Vasquez states he thinks he will sign for “Chelsea or Tottenham”. Awkward.

Elsewhere, Watford are the latest club to join the hunt for Newcastle winger Andros Townsend (Mirror), Sunderland, Man Utd, Southampton and Everton are vying to sign Turkey midfielder Ozan Tufan, who has been dubbed the “new Yaya Toure” (Chronicle) and Everton flop Oumar Niasse could be on his way to Galatasaray but the Turks won’t match the £13m the Toffees paid for him because he’s rubbish. (Talksport).

@darlingkevin