Chelsea Target Set-Piece Coach Austin MacPhee from Aston Villa

Chelsea have opened talks to prise acclaimed set-piece coach Austin MacPhee from Aston Villa, targeting one of the most influential backroom figures in English football over the past two seasons.

They are not alone.

Other Premier League clubs are in the race, while teams from the Saudi Pro League have also registered their interest, turning MacPhee’s future into one of the more intriguing subplots of the summer coaching market.

Chelsea eye an edge for Xabi Alonso

For Xabi Alonso, newly installed at Stamford Bridge, the move is obvious. Chelsea’s new head coach wants marginal gains, and few areas offer more measurable impact than dead-ball situations. There is a vacancy too: Bernardo Cueva, recruited from Brentford in 2024 for £750,000 to oversee set-pieces, is stepping away from the touchline into a more behind-the-scenes role.

That creates a clear lane for MacPhee, a specialist whose work at Villa has been impossible to ignore.

The 46-year-old Scot has built a reputation as one of the sharpest set-piece minds in the game. Under his guidance, Aston Villa scored more goals from set-plays than any other side across Europe’s top five leagues in the 2023-24 season. The following campaign they stayed among the continent’s elite in that department and finished joint-top with Arsenal for set-piece goals in the Premier League.

Those numbers are not a quirk. They are a calling card.

Villa braced, but protected

Aston Villa, though, are not powerless in this. MacPhee is under contract, and that deal is understood to contain a specific release clause. Any club wanting to take him will have to pay compensation, and Villa will expect a fee reflecting his impact on Unai Emery’s side.

His departure would be part of a broader reshaping of the staff at Villa Park this summer. MacPhee has been central to a period of genuine progress: Villa have won the Europa Conference League and secured Champions League qualification under Emery, with their set-piece threat a defining feature of that rise.

Losing him would sting. Yet it would also underline just how highly the industry now values the specialist craft he has honed.

Dual role, rising stock

MacPhee’s influence has not been confined to club football. For the past five years he has combined his Villa duties with a similar role on the international stage, working with the Portugal national team under Roberto Martinez. Martinez, who resigned after the World Cup, leaned heavily on detailed preparation and structured play, and MacPhee’s continued presence in that setup has only burnished his standing.

A coach trusted at elite club level and on the international scene, with a track record backed by hard numbers, is exactly the profile now drawing suitors from England and Saudi Arabia alike.

Chelsea and Villa’s growing connection

The pursuit of MacPhee comes in a week that has already tightened the links between Chelsea and Villa. Chelsea have just completed a major move for Morgan Rogers, paying £117m to bring the forward to Stamford Bridge. Heading the other way, Alejandro Garnacho has joined Aston Villa on an initial loan that is expected to become permanent via an option to buy.

Now Chelsea are back at Villa’s door, this time not for a player but for a coach who shapes matches from the training ground rather than the pitch.

For Alonso, landing MacPhee would send a clear message about how he intends to construct his Chelsea: detail-obsessed, prepared, and ruthless at the moments that decide tight games.

For Villa, the question is stark. After building one of Europe’s most dangerous set-piece machines, can they afford to let the architect walk out to a direct Premier League rival?