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Hello and welcome to The Athletic's coverage of today's football news.

It is the final international break of the calendar year in which we will be bringing you all the latest injury news as players head off on international duty.

We'll also have the latest on Norwich City and Aston Villa's managerial searches as well as Xavi's fist day at Barcelona as he returns to the club as their new head coach since Ronald Koeman's dismissal.

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Ibra: "I haven't set a time when I want to retire, I have a physio 24 hours a day, I must have balance with playing time" https://bit.ly/3wvItEB
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"Rules come first" - Xavi lays down the law after unveiling as Barca coach Xavi Hernandez said Barcelona's players will have to play by his rules and raise their standards as the club's new coach laid down a firm message at his unveiling on Monday.

Steven Gerrard and Roberto Martinez on Aston Villa's managerial shortlist after Dean Smith sacking.

Both Gerrard and Martinez are in work, at Rangers and Belgium respectively, and so Villa know they would have to pay compensation.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - OCTOBER 27: Rangers manager Steven Gerrard during a Cinch Premiership match between Rangers and Aberdeen at Ibrox stadium, on October 26, 2021, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Gerrard would be a 'fantastic' appointment by Aston Villa to succeed Smith as their new manager, says the club's former goalkeeper Mark Bosnich.

Martinez is open to the possibility of a move back to the Premier League, having been with Belgium since 2016, during which time he has taken them to No 1 in the FIFA rankings.

Gerrard, meanwhile, is a close friend of Villa CEO Christian Purslow from when the latter was managing director at Liverpool.

Denmark boss Kasper Hjulmand is also on the list of possible names - he is well known by Villa sporting director Johan Lange. Hjulmand is seen as an outside option at this stage.

the undisputed good coach

AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli is October's Coach of the Month!

4The club have confirmed an agreement with Juventus for the striker United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer then left the door open to a shock transfer this morning when discussing the former Red Devils striker.

He stated:''I didn't think Cristiano was going to leave Juventus.

But if ever he is goingto move away from Juventus he knows we are here.

We've always had a good communication, Bruno [Fernandes] has been talking to him as well.

He knows how we feel about him.

He is a legend of this club, the greatest players of all time if you ask me. So let’s see what happens with him.

Amedical in Lisbon was quickly plannedas he flew into the Portuguese capital on his private jet.

And the club announced an agreement with Juventus to seal the transfer, subject to personal terms, a visa, and the completion of the medical.

Most read in Football Breaking R**E PROBE Second man arrested in Mendy r**e investigation as Man City ace appears in court'IN MY HEART'Ronaldo breaks silence after Man Utd return and says goodbye to Juventus fansFER REAL?Ferdinand 'predicts' Ronaldo changed mind about City move just before withdrawal RON IT BY ME Five ways Man Utd could line upafter Cristiano Ronaldo completes shock return understands United have handed the five-time Ballon d'Or winner a two-year contract at the Theatre of Dream.

Ronaldo penned an emotional goodbye message to Juve fans on Friday afternoon, writing on Instagra.

Today I depart from an amazing club, the biggest in Italy and surely one of the biggest in all of Europe."I gave my heart and soul for Juventus and I’ll always love thecity of Turin until my final days.

The 'tiffosi bianconeri' always respected me and I tried to thank that respect by fighting for them in every game, every season, every competition."

In the end, we can all look back and realize that we achieved great things, not all that we wanted, but still, we wrote a pretty beautiful story together."

It will always be.