Chelsea in talks for Villa set-piece guru MacPhee

Chelsea are in talks to sign highly regarded set-piece coach Austin MacPhee from Aston Villa. Villa would be due compensation for MacPhee as his contract is understood to have a specified release clause. The Scottish coach, 46, has combined his role at Villa Park with a similar position with the Portugal national team for the past five years under Roberto Martinez, who resigned after the World Cup. Villa scored more goals from set-pieces than any other team in Europe's top five leagues during the 2023-24 season. They followed that by ranking among the top five a season later and finished joint-top with Arsenal in the Premier League last season.

MacPhee would be one of a number of staff members to leave Villa Park this summer after helping the club win the Europa League and qualify for the Champions League under manager Unai Emery. New Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso has space in his current backroom staff as previous set-piece coach Bernardo Cueva, who joined from Brentford for £750,000 in 2024, is moving away from a touchline role and into a more behind-the-scenes position. Chelsea signed Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa for £117m this week, with Alejandro Garnacho moving in the other direction on an initial loan that will likely become permanent through an option to buy.