Chelsea land Aston Villa coach in shock move – and it’s great news for Morgan Rogers

Aston Villa set-piece coach Austin MacPhee is on the brink of joining Premier League rivals Chelsea, talkSPORT understands.

The 46-year-old joined the club in August 2021 after spells with the Northern Ireland national team, Hearts and FC Midtjylland.

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MacPhee has worked alongside Dean Smith, Steven Gerrard and Unai Emery during his five-year stay at Villa.

However, alongside his assistant manager role with Portugal, he will take his set-piece expertise to Chelsea and work with Xabi Alonso.

He is a highly-regarded coach who is regularly seen on the touchline during matches.

Villa scored 29 goals from set pieces during the 2025/26 season, the joint-most in Europe with Arsenal.

And, as per The Athletic, they have netted 74 set piece goals during his time at the club.

News of MacPhee joining Chelsea comes after Bernardo Cueva was given a new role at Stamford Bridge.

He moved from Brentford before the 2024/25 season to become a set piece coach, but he is now working as a technical analyst.

Worked a treat

MacPhee will be the second arrival at Chelsea from Villa this summer after the British record £117million signing of Morgan Rogers.

The 23-year-old looked set to join Premier League champions Arsenal, but it’s Chelsea who completed a deal.

Rogers will therefore work with MacPhee once again in the upcoming season, with the duo already having a successful partnership.

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During Villa’s 4-2 win over Liverpool towards the end of the previous campaign, Rogers opened the scoring shortly before half-time.

His goal, a curling strike into the far corner, followed a well-worked sequence of play from a corner.

The television cameras caught MacPhee celebrating the move, which appeared to have been worked on during training.

Emery joined in with him, with Rogers also seen embracing the coach near the dugout.

Chelsea and Villa business

Whilst Rogers has joined Chelsea and MacPhee is en route, Alejandro Garnacho has gone the other way.

The winger has completed a season-long loan move to Villa, and the deal has a conditional obligation to buy clause included.

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Nicolas Jackson, who was on loan at Bayern Munich from Chelsea last season, is another player to have been linked with Villa.

They are understood to have been offered the chance to sign the Senegalese striker, who worked with Emery at Villarreal.