Hello and welcome to the new Barcelona Correspondents page here at Soccernet. The Powers That Be at the Worldwide Leader have been kind enough to allow my humble voice to be projected here for the foreseeable future. I'll obviously be talking about all things FC Barcelona with a smattering of league-wide thoughts.

I've been blogging about Barcelona for more than 3 years now and am currently a writer over at Barcelona Football Blog where I cover upcoming matches and occasionally dabble in editorial pieces. Here at ESPN I'll be covering some of the more mundane things, like results, injuries, transfers, etc. Did I say mundane? I meant the reason I wake up in the morning.

As a member of the club and as a fan, I find it important to cover both the sporting and political/business aspects of Barça, so from time-to-time I'll also be discussing what goes on behind-the-scenes in the front office as well as diving into discussions of the youth development system, both of which are vital to the club's present title defense and future endeavors.

Transfers are, of course, the main topic of the day, so here's a brief overview of what's happened so far this summer:

In:
David Villa: a 28-year old striker, purchased for €40m from fellow La Liga squad Valencia. If his previous domestic form and World Cup showing is anything to go on, he'll have a tremendous year. His inclusion leaves Pep Guardiola with that most wonderful of headaches: who to start up top?

Adriano: a 25-year old wingback who can also step up into the midfield, he comes from Sevilla FC with a €9.5m price tag along with a reported €4m in performance-based variables. The expectation is that he'll be backing up Dani Alves most of the time, though he'll also be able to play on the left wing behind Eric Abidal and Maxwell if they're not fit. Expect to see Adriano mostly in Copa del Rey matches at the beginning.

Out:
Yaya Touré: The Ivorian defensive midfielder leaves us for Manchester City in a €30m move (€24m to the club, €6 to his agent) after 3 years of service. He won 2 La Liga titles, a Champions League, a Copa del Rey, and a Club World Cup with us. His departure cements Sergio Busquets as the squad's first choice defensive midfielder and leaves the door open for a transfer target.

Dmytro Chygrynskiy: I think I just learned how to spell his name correctly and he's sold back to Shakhtar Donetsk after a year in blaugrana. His original price tag (€25m) never fit his involvement (14 total appearances) and now that he's been sold for €15m, he'll more-than-likely be considered a massive failure for the club despite never having been given a true shot at coming good on his potential. His departure does, however, open up space for the potential rise of various canteranos such as Marc Bartra, Marc Muniesa, and Andreu Fontas.

Thierry Henry: With Titi heading to my current home, I can't help but be at least a little pleased that I won't have to stop watching him. He leaves on a free to New York Red Bulls (where he debuts in 4 days against Tottenham, of all clubs) and while he had a poor final season with us, his leadership and mentoring of the younger strikers (Bojan and Pedro, for instance) will be missed.

Keirrison: While not technically out of the squad, Keirrison has made a loan move back to Brazil, where he'll be playing for Santos. It'll be interesting to see how he does and if he'll ever get a shot at making Barça's squad in the future. He might even get me to watch a few more Brazilian domestic matches as he teams up with Ganso, Neymar, and maybe Robinho.

Technically Albert Botia left on a free to Sporting Gijon (with a €2m buyback clause), but this happened a few months ago. Returing to the fold after loans are Alexander Hleb from Stuttgart, Victor Sánchez from relegated Xerez, Martin Caceres from Juventus, and Henrique from Racing Santander. I don't expect any of these players to be with the squad come the start of the season, but hopefully they're able to find good loan spots or good transfer deals.

The rumor mill is always twirling happily about as well, but we'll leave that discussion for another day. Have your say in the comments.