Chelsea Pursue Set-Piece Specialist Austin MacPhee
Chelsea are in talks to prise renowned set‑piece specialist Austin MacPhee away from Aston Villa, as the club’s new era under Xabi Alonso begins to take shape behind the scenes as much as on the pitch.
The London side are not alone. Other Premier League clubs and teams from the Saudi Pro League are also circling, aware that one of the most influential dead-ball minds in Europe may be on the move this summer.
Chelsea target the master of the dead ball
MacPhee, 46, has become a reference point for set‑piece innovation. Under his watch, Aston Villa scored more goals from set‑plays than any other side in 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 last season.
Those numbers are not a quirk. They are a calling card.
Any club that wants him will have to pay. Villa are due compensation, with MacPhee’s contract understood to contain a specific release clause. The Midlands club, who have built a reputation for marginal gains under Unai Emery, are braced for a summer in which several key backroom figures could depart.
MacPhee would be among the most significant of those exits. He has been part of a Villa staff that delivered the Europa Conference League and secured Champions League qualification, turning Villa Park into one of the most awkward venues in England for defending corners and free-kicks.
A coach in demand
The Scottish coach has balanced Villa duties with an international role for the past five years, working on set‑pieces with the Portugal national team under Roberto Martinez, who stepped down after the World Cup. That dual workload has only enhanced his reputation as a specialist capable of tailoring routines to different squads and styles.
It is that adaptability, as much as the raw numbers, that appeals to elite clubs. For Chelsea, the attraction is clear. Alonso arrives with a possession-heavy, structured vision of how his team should play. To bolt one of Europe’s most productive set‑piece brains onto that model would be to add a reliable source of goals in tight games, where details often decide seasons.
Space on Alonso’s staff
There is room for him at Cobham. Chelsea’s previous set‑piece coach, Bernardo Cueva, who joined from Brentford for £750,000 in 2024, is stepping away from a touchline role and moving into a more behind‑the‑scenes position. That shift leaves a clear vacancy in Alonso’s immediate technical area.
Chelsea’s hierarchy, already reshaping the squad, now see an opportunity to sharpen the edges of their coaching structure as well. Set‑pieces have become an arms race in the modern game; Villa’s recent record shows how much damage a well-drilled unit can inflict over a season.
The battle for MacPhee’s signature underlines that reality. Whether he chooses the project at Stamford Bridge, stays loyal to Villa’s Champions League adventure, or accepts a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia, his next move will say plenty about where the balance of power – and ambition – really lies in the sport’s most finely tuned details.
