Neymar's old club Santos looks ahead to friendly against Barcelona – video

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Sun online football show to form part of new digital offering

The Sun FC online football show will feature Premier League action once the season starts in September. Photograph: Alex Livesey/Getty Images

The Sun is to enter the world of online football broadcasting with a Sky Sports News-style show, called The Sun FC, which will kick off as the paper's website launches its paywall.

From Thursday the first of the 32 million users who browse the website each month will be greeted by a £2-a-week paywall, part of the paper's new Sun+ digital offering.

For early risers there will be a new "near-live" on-demand sports news show from 6.30am, with the first edition set to air about a week before the start of the Premier League football season. England's top division kicks off on 17 August.

The show, which has its roots in the Sun's transfer and news section Football Confidential, will be streamed seven days a week from the publisher's new £3m studio in Wapping.

"It will be like Sky Sports News but slightly different," said the Sun digital editor, Derek Brown. "It will offer a view of 'the truth behind the stories', if you like."

The morning edition of the programme, which will be available from 6am each day, will be fronted by presenter Samantha Johnson.

Johnson, who also presents The Morning Report on Sky Sports News, will start the day with a roundup of headlines and big stories from Sun writers.

"When we got the rights at the end of January we thought 'We don't just want to put out clips like ESPN, we want to make the goals app much more than that,'" Brown said.

From 4pm presenting duties will be taken over by John Salako, the former England international and TV pundit.

Brown said the length of the daily show could vary depending on the amount of football news, but added that it would not become a loop of stale news.

"You are not going to be watching at 1pm and think it is the same as at 6am," he said.

The programme will form part of a strategy to build the value of content behind the Sun paywall to drive subscriber growth. Analysts have tentatively estimated that it could need more than 300,000 subscribers to break even.

Brown said that a three-pronged Sun+ digital strategy will focus on a Goals app, Sun Digital (access to the website online and via smartphones and tablets), and offering a range of deals to entice new and loyal readers.

The Goals app will leverage the digital Premier League rights parent News UK paid £30m-plus to secure plus, from next year, FA Cup digital rights.

The Sun FC is one element that will be made available through the goals app, to build what Brown says will be an experience a bit like Facebook's timeline.

"When we got the [Premier League] rights in January we didn't just want to put out clips like [former joint rights holder] ESPN," he said. "We don't want people turning up just for match day, almost want it to become the first thing people turn to when they get out of bed."

When News UK, in its former guise as News International, put the Times behind a paywall, web traffic dived about 90%.

"We've had long conversations about this here and what this means," Brown said. "Of that 32 million a month many are just passing traffic that don't hold a huge amount of value to us. They might visit once a month, they might have landed on us and not even know. We accept that traffic is going to go down but [the view on that] depends on what value you put on advertising. None of us here are convinced by that model. The bundle is the key thing here."

He said that the aim was not to turn its back on print readers – the Sun sold a daily average of 2.24m copies in June – and herald the start of some sort of "digital-first" strategy.

"We are not saying 'Now we are digital-first platform'," he said. "One of the key parts of Sun+ is to make sure people who buy the newspaper and are loyal continue to be loyal and are rewarded. We are not anything 'first', it is about customers and readers. A lot of our readers out there are still out there driving vans, cleaning windows, builders ... they may not have an iPad or a tablet on them but I bet most of them have a smartphone."

He said that the third element of the Sun+ strategy, offering deals and rewards, includes three months' free music on Napster for new subscribers and £5 off kids' clothes at BHS, and plans are in the pipeline for a book club via News UK's News Corporation stablemate Harper Collins and perhaps a movie club.

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The Fiver | TVs have exited the window and met the pavement | Ian McCourt

Yes reader, one of these 2002 makes. Photograph: Action Press /Rex Features

Dammit man! Dammit! Sorry, reader, sorry. The Fiver doesn't usually like to start off its afternoon epistle in such an abrasive fashion but anger, searing, sizzling, scolding heat has got the better of your beloved today. Walls have suffered, oaths have been uttered and TVs have exited the window and met the pavement with the kind of force that makes a Karl Henry tackle look like a night out at the ballet. But what exactly has got the Fiver's pink and blue flowery numbers in a knot? Is it the 350 part-time workers deployed during the summer opening of Buckingham Palace who have no guaranteed work? Don't be silly. Those "desolate" north-east remarks from Lord Howell, former energy adviser to William Hague and George Osborne's father-in-law? Hello! Welcome to Snoozeville! Population the Fiver. That English football has been warned that Manchester City are being used as a 'branding vehicle' for the criticised Abu Dhabi regime? You're having a laugh?

No, it's none of them. It's something far more serious than the "environment" or "human rights". Official. Club. Website. Statements. That's what it is. The Fiver doesn't ask for much – other than the three-digit number on the back of your debit card – but when yet another carefully diluted 400 words of nothingness [leave it – Fiver Ed] seep out to announce that 'The Club is delighted to confirm that blah blah blah has joined for yawn yawn yawn', well … that's when the walls and TV look at each other like they have been asked to spend a day in a stuck lift with Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy.

T1tfers tipped, then, to Torquay United, who trumpeted the arrival of Krystian Pearce at Plainmoor with a slightly immature, yet entertaining dig at fans' messageboards and more. "Official site always gets there last … I get my info from the fans' forum or Bob in the pub … grumble, groan and moan," it parped. "Hang on a minute, briefly forgot where I was. We can now confirm that defender Krystian Pearce has passed his medical and signed all the paperwork on a two-year deal with the Gulls." Inevitably, Bob in the pub was unavailable for comment.

More of this please. Anything slightly different. More mock unveilings in the regal style of Alan Tate, chairman Ron Martin being allowed to write every story on Southend's website. Just anything to end the tedium amid the ongoing misery that is Suárez to Arsenal, Bale to Madrid and no one to Manchester United. Then, perhaps, sources close to the Fiver will be able to tell you just how less funky the Fiver is.

"I look at Southend Pier. It's a mile and a half long, right on the Thames Estuary. And I think, why do people do that? It's just to show what you can achieve. So we've been along the prom a couple of times. We've had walks and warm-downs. We've had training sessions on the beach. And I've enquired to Southend Council to see if we can get a free run along the pier – you have to pay about seven quid to get on it. So if we do a warm-down there it'll be a relaxing day, they'll go on a mile-and-a-half jog and end in the middle of the Thames Estuary. What's crazy about that? What's stunty about that? It's about using the local terrain" – sound the Phil Brown interview alarm.

"It sounds to me as if Premier League bigwig Richard Scudamore is miffed that BT Sport has succeeded where he failed in terms of securing dressing room footage (yesterday's Fiver). He says he threw the idea into the mix, but it was a no-go area. If we have reached the point where the reject bin of Scudamore's innovations is the place to start rummaging for new ideas then surely it must be time to STOP FOOTBALL" – Dan Ashley.

"Laudable as the efforts of Liverpool are, I feel the pedants' duty to question the plans to 'eradicate any form of discrimination' (yesterday's Fiver). There is an important difference between discrimination and unfair discrimination. Discrimination only requires a degree of consideration to be given to a decision, such as deciding to wear matching socks, or deciding to moderate your language given the surroundings, or indeed deciding which South American news outlet to proclaim your desire to leave Merseyside to next before claiming to be misquoted. Unfair discrimination requires the unreasonable application of this ability, which is clearly A Bad Thing. But worth being clear on, and a discriminating audience is not one that is against Othello from the start" – Michael Hunt.

"Gmail categorised Tuesday's Fiver under 'Promotions' as a part of its new inbox tabs and categories feature. I think 'Relegations' would have been more appropriate" – Damien Neva.

• Send your letters to the.boss@guardian.co.uk. Also, if you've nothing better to do you can tweet the Fiver. Today's winner of our prizeless letter o' the day prize is: Damien Neva.

We keep trying to point out the utter futility of advertising an online dating service "for interesting people" in the Fiver to the naive folk who run Guardian Soulmates, but they still aren't having any of it. So here you go – sign up here to view profiles of the kind of erudite, sociable and friendly romantics who would never dream of going out with you.

Mr 15% Willie McKay says star client Joey Barton would join Everton in a heartbeat, in return for hardly any money at all*. (*£35,000-a-week.) "Joey said there was only one club he would make a sacrifice for and it would be Everton," trilled McKay. "It's the club he loves."

Mike Ashley's zero-hours contracts may be hard on Sports Direct workers – but his frugal approach to billlionairing is even harder on Alan Pardew and his eight-year-contract. "I think we're still in the market," he sniffed after missing out on a string of slightly-too-expensive signings. "We will pay what we think is the right price."

Good news from Brendan Rodgers: Luis Suárez is happy. "He totally understands the club's point of view [about not selling him]. He hasn't been moping about," thrilled Rodgers. "The [squad] spirit is strong. Right across the club there is a one-club mentality."

Pepe Reina has clarified Monday's open letter on his website in which he revealed how angry he is with Liverpool over his abrupt Anfield exit. The key point: "I'm not angry with Liverpool – quite the opposite."

And Manchester United have named PepsiCo as Official Drinks Partner in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei, joining a family of partners including Official Manchester United Noodles Partner Mamee. Jumpers for goalposts, etc and so on.

After four years of purgatory and dark farce, Pompey are back and look a decent bet for the play-offs, says Rob Bagchi in our League Two season preview.

With the rise of Gareth Bale, Swansea and Cardiff, it's time for the English to take the Welsh game seriously, reckons Paul Wilson.

And Sky Sports News' yellow Ticker of Truth is doing its best to wind up the Rumour Mill again. It's working.

Want your very own copy of our free tea-timely(ish) email sent direct to your inbox? Has your regular copy stopped arriving? Click here to sign up.

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Tottenham agree Roberto Soldado deal but agent issue delays transfer

The Valencia forward Roberto Soldado scored 30 goals in 46 appearances for the club last season. Photograph: Jose Jordan/AFP/Getty Images

A deal between Valencia and Tottenham Hotspur for the sale of the Spain striker Roberto Soldado has been completed, the La Liga club's president told local media on Wednesday.

However, the 28-year-old will not be allowed to join the Premier League club until a problem with his agent has been resolved, Amadeo Salvo said in the daily El Mundo.

"The deal with Tottenham has been completed. A problem with Soldado's agents has come up and the player will not leave the club until a solution has been found," Salvo said.

Spanish media reports put the transfer fee at €30m (£26.3m) for Soldado, who scored 30 goals in 46 appearances for Valencia last season.

Spurs spent about £17m to bring in the Brazil midfielder Paulinho from Corinthians earlier this month, a similar amount to the record fee they paid Blackburn Rovers for the winger David Bentley in 2008.

Media reports claim Real Madrid have offered a world record fee in excess of £85m for Gareth Bale, who signed a new four-year deal with Tottenham last year, but there has been no official comment from either club.

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Tottenham ready to sell Bale for €100m plus Morata

Gareth Bale will be allowed to leave Tottenham if they can secure Alvaro Morata, above, in exchange. Photograph: Gregorio Lopez/Cordon Press/Corbis

Tottenham Hotspur are prepared to sell Gareth Bale to Real Madrid and they will tell the Spanish club that the prospect of a deal would increase if the striker Alvaro Morata were included as a makeweight.

Real have so far bid a world record €100m (£86m) in straight cash for Bale, which has not been enough to sway the Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy, and they have indicated a readiness to offer players as further sweeteners.

They have put forward the left-back Fábio Coentrão and the winger Angel di María, whose values they have variously factored into the potential package, but Tottenham maintain that the deal will be on their terms, meaning that they choose any makeweights and the one that they want is Morata.

Given the 20-year-old is the most highly rated young player at the Bernabéu, particularly after he secured the Golden Boot as Spain won the European Under-21 Championship this summer, it effectively means that the package Tottenham are seeking is worth more than £100m.

Real, who have waged an increasingly aggressive campaign to sign Bale during this transfer window, may consider Tottenham's willingness to negotiate, at last, as a positive sign.

On the other hand, they will be loth to lose Morata, especially as he has been earmarked by the coach, Carlo Ancelotti, for a more prominent role. Real's decision to sell Gonzalo Higuaín to Napoli for £32m was motivated in part by the feeling that Morata was ready to challenge Karim Benzema for a place in the starting XI.

Real believe that Morata could be Spain's future No9 and their appreciation of him has been reflected in their efforts to secure him to a long-term deal with an enormous buy-out clause. Morata's contract expires in 2015.

It must be noted that swap or part-exchange deals at the highest level are extremely rare, because of their complexity. The reasons include the inevitable argument over the value of the makeweight, his personal terms and desire to make the move. Levy would want any makeweight to come over and above the €100m fee for Bale whereas Real would decrease the cash sum according to the player involved.

Tottenham continue to press on with their other business and they are poised to break their transfer record for the second time this summer with the €30m (£26m) signing of Roberto Soldado from Valencia. They paid £17m for the midfielder Paulinho from Corinthians, which eclipsed their previous record outlay – the £16.5m spent to take Luka Modric from Dynamo Zagreb in 2008.

Tottenham's technical director, Franco Baldini, has spent time in Valencia to broker the deal, which will end Andre Villas-Boas's search for a centre-forward. The Valencia president, Amadeo Salvo, said on Wednesday that the transfer was all but done.

"The deal with Tottenham has been completed," he said. "A problem with Soldado's agents has come up and the player will not leave the club until a solution has been found."

Tottenham do not anticipate any hitches and they are looking forward to welcoming the 28-year-old Spain international, who scored 30 goals in 46 appearances for Valencia last season. Villas-Boas, who had also looked at Aston Villa's Christian Benteke only for him sign a new contract, went through last season with Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor as his recognised, senior strikers.

Villas-Boas has allowed Steven Caulker to move to Cardiff City for £9m, which becomes a record transfer for the Welsh club, overtaking the £8.5m that they paid to tempt the Denmark striker Andreas Cornelius from FC Copenhagen. The move raised eyebrows in some quarters as Caulker, who made a goalscoring debut for England in the 4-2 friendly defeat by Sweden last November, had been touted as the future for Tottenham.

Moreover, with the long-term injury casualty Younès Kaboul still to feature in pre-season, Jan Vertonghen out with ankle damage and William Gallas released, Villas-Boas now has only one fit, senior centre-half in Michael Dawson.

Tottenham are pushing to sign the 23-year-old Romania and Steaua Bucharest central defender Vlad Chiriches, although it has been reported that the club's owner, Gigi Becali, who is in jail, is unhappy for the deal to proceed. Caulker feared that his starting opportunities at Tottenham stood to be limited.

Tottenham have also signed the winger Nacer Chadli from Twente for £7m but Bale's future continues to dominate. The 24-year-old, who is determined to be granted his dream move to Real, reported to the Tottenham training ground on Wednesday morning when the squad reconvened after their involvement in the Barclays Asia Trophy and two days off.

But Bale did not train with the first-team group, as he felt the minor gluteal muscle injury that has hampered him for the past two weeks. He is unlikely to feature in the friendly against Monaco at Stade Louis II on Saturday.

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Who will win League Two this season? – poll

Portsmouth are favourites for the title, but do you see the champion coming from elsewhere?
• Read Rob Bagchi's 2013-14 League Two season preview

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2015 World Cup fixtures

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