Chelsea Targets Set-Piece Specialist Austin MacPhee from Aston Villa
Chelsea are in talks to prise renowned set-piece specialist Austin MacPhee from Aston Villa, as the London club move to sharpen the fine details of Xabi Alonso’s new era – but they are far from alone in the chase.
Premier League rivals and clubs from the Saudi Pro League are also circling, drawn by a coach whose work has turned dead balls into a ruthless weapon at Villa Park. Any move will not come cheap: Villa are entitled to compensation, with MacPhee’s contract understood to contain a defined release clause.
At 46, the Scottish coach has built a reputation as one of the most influential behind-the-scenes figures in the modern game. For the past five years he has juggled his duties at Villa with a parallel role on the international stage, working as set-piece coach with the Portugal national team under Roberto Martinez, who stepped down after the World Cup. The dual workload has not dulled his impact.
The numbers tell the story. During the 2023-24 campaign, no side in Europe’s top five leagues scored more goals from set-pieces than Villa. The following season they stayed near the summit of those rankings and finished joint-top with Arsenal for set-piece goals in the Premier League. Corners, wide free-kicks, rehearsed routines from throw-ins – Villa squeezed every drop from them.
Under Unai Emery, MacPhee formed part of a staff group that delivered the Europa Conference League and secured Champions League qualification, achievements built not just on open-play fluency but on relentless attention to detail in the dead-ball department.
This summer, that backroom team is being dismantled piece by piece. MacPhee is one of several staff members expected to move on, and interest at the level now circling him underlines how sharply clubs value marginal gains in a league where the top end is decided by inches.
Chelsea’s need is clear. Alonso, preparing for his first season in charge at Stamford Bridge, has room to reshape his inner circle. The club’s previous set-piece coach, Bernardo Cueva – recruited from Brentford in 2024 for £750,000 – is stepping away from a touchline role into a more analytical, behind-the-scenes position. That leaves a gap on the grass, in the technical area, on matchdays.
MacPhee fits that brief. Highly visible on the touchline, demanding precision from takers and runners, he has become synonymous with Villa’s choreographed chaos in the box. For a Chelsea side seeking to close the gap to the very top, the appeal is obvious: hire the architect of one of Europe’s most dangerous dead-ball arsenals and bolt that threat onto Alonso’s broader blueprint.
The question now is whether Chelsea can move quickly and decisively enough. With domestic rivals and Saudi money in the mix, the battle for a specialist coach has started to resemble a transfer pursuit for a top player – a sign of where the modern game is heading, and of just how much value clubs now attach to every free-kick and corner.
