The Premier League’s summer transfer window might have only just closed but planning for the next one is already under way, with the Sun splashing the story that Chelsea will make an £80m move for Wilfried Zaha in January “if they succeed in having their transfer ban overturned”. Even as transfer tittle-tattle goes this seems somewhat flimsy, with a significant hole where the evidence of Chelsea’s interest should be (“Chelsea, who are convinced they can escape a transfer ban and start buying players again in the new year, will be alerted to Zaha’s predicament,” is the strongest it gets), but clearly the winger wants to leave Crystal Palace, and apparently the Eagles “have reluctantly agreed to revisit his future in January”. He may have to wait a little bit longer if he wants to move to Stamford Bridge, with the Telegraph also mentioning Chelsea’s interest and saying they “may suggest he waits for them to make an offer for him next summer, when their transfer ban has expired”.

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The Mail reports the tactics used by Palace to keep Everton at bay were occasionally rather extreme. “At one point Everton were struggling to get Palace to answer their calls and Selhurst Park bosses were ‘dodging them every way possible’ such was the club’s determination to hang on to their prized asset,” it writes, conjuring images of negotiators locking themselves in the broom cupboard, sticking their fingers in their ears and shouting “la la la” for several hours of Thursday afternoon.

The battle may not yet be over, with the Telegraph saying he may now move abroad. “Zaha remains adamant he wants to leave and, with the transfer window still open for other major European leagues until the beginning of next month, there remains the possibility of other bids being submitted. The issue for Palace is they cannot now sign a replacement even if a club match their valuation.”

Zaha is not the only Premier League player with a four-letter surname furious at not being allowed to move to Everton. Marcos Rojo, the Mail reports, has been “left fuming” after United insisted on “changing the parameters” of an existing loan agreement on deadline day, resulting in the whole thing falling through. In other deals-that-won’t-happen news, the Mail also reveals Bayern Munich were poised to submit a massive £110m bid for Leroy Sané and “were prepared to hand the winger wages of £400,000 a week”, though that’s easy for them to say now that Sane is about to have surgery on a knee injury and the whole thing’s off.

The Corriere dello Sport says the battle for Mauro Icardi is truly hotting up. Napoli and Juventus remain interested but Roma, it reports, have entered the fray – and “can play the Dzeko card”. Calciomercato has more on this, saying that Edin Dzeko’s agent met Inter officials at precisely 11am on Wednesday – reaching agreement in principle on personal terms – and with Roma on Thursday. The Giallorossi are not minded to let him go but the player is quite keen to leave, so the situation has the potential to go full Zaha. A Lukaku-Dzeko frontline would be quite fearsome in its tall, very broad-shouldered way.

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As for Neymar, Marca and L’Equipe lead on Real Madrid’s pursuit of the Brazilian, while Sport and Mundo Deportivo insist Barcelona remain in the fray. AS meanwhile has a foot in both camps, pointing out that “only Madrid and Barcelona can sign him” and that both remain interested. Real had made Paul Pogba their priority, but with United not having signed a potential replacement that avenue is considered closed, freeing the Spanish side to splash the cash on Neymar instead. “The club has been thinking for some time that what the team lacked was a big star striker,” it writes, adding that helpfully “PSG’s relationship with Madrid is magnificent, quite the opposite of that with Barcelona”.

Mundo Deportivo reports that Neymar would prefer to join Barcelona and will wait until 20 August for them to make a definitive move – but should they fail, the Brazilian “would not rule out any option in order to leave the French side”. The Gazzetta dello Sport meanwhile says the transfer will not happen in isolation, predicting that once Neymar is sold PSG will buy Milan’s Gianluigi Donnarumma, at which point Milan will have enough money to buy Ángel Correa from Atlético Madrid and line up a deal for Luka Modric, even if it might not go through until next summer. “The Rossoneri are ready,” they write. “All they need is for Donnarumma to bring in at least €50m to start the dances.”