The transfer window can be a transformative time for football clubs with big ambitions.
Players are brought in who, hopefully, will help to improve the team and take it to the next level. Those not up to the mark are moved on pastures new.
Managerial changes are commonplace too, as the incoming head coach can make the sweeping changes he has been employed to make.
Less headline-worthy are transfers involving other members of staff. But then, Austin MacPhee is no ordinary member of staff.
The specialist set piece coach, who worked with the Portuguese national team at the World Cup, is leaving Aston Villa to take up residence at Chelsea instead.
The fee involved has not been made public, but you suspect it was sizable – the 46-year-old is partly responsible for more goals than your average £30 million striker.
Who Is Austin MacPhee?
Modern football is heavily going down the road of the specialist coach.
Clubs have long appointed fitness and goalkeeping coaches to supplement their staff, but now we’re seeing ball-striking specialists as well as talent pathway consultants and even ‘mind’ coaches.
Set piece coaches are another specialist position that, in years gone by, were barely even considered. But in the modern game, where marginal gains are so important, more and more clubs are turning to expertise in the field of corners, free kicks and throw ins.
And there’s a good reason for that: set piece coaches are a heck of a lot cheaper to find than a 25-goal a season striker – Chelsea previously paid £750,000 for Bernardo Cueva.
Just take a look at Austin MacPhee. Aston Villa scored more set piece goals than any other team in the Premier League in 2023/24, as well as adding 18 more in 2025/26. By way of comparison, Chelsea paid £60 million for Joao Pedro and he scored 15 EPL goals last term.
All told, the Villains notched 29 goals from set pieces in all competitions in 2025/26, which was the joint-most of all elite clubs in Europe. It’s perhaps no coincidence that Villa’s most successful era in quite some time has come with MacPhee on the training ground.
The Scot worked his way through the ranks as an amateur coach in his homeland, before being assigned set pieces while employed alongside Michael O’Neill with the Northern Irish national team.
They scored eleven set piece goals in ten games in qualifying for Euro 2016, with MacPhee famed for his work in elevating the team to major tournament status.
Spells with Hearts and FC Midtjylland – one of the early innovators in the set piece space – enhanced MacPhee’s reputation further, before the chance to join Aston Villa was taken.
The fact that his capture by Chelsea has made headlines around the world perhaps tells you just how respected the Scot’s methods – and results – are within the game.
Dead Ball Dynamos
Although they exited the 2026 World Cup prematurely to eventual winners Spain, Portugal – with whom MacPhee moonlighted in the summer – were full of praise for the 46-year-old.
Roberto Martinez commented that ‘Austin is very creative and transmits passion for his work. He’s got a real knack to connect with the player and that’s what makes him so good at his job.’
Even Bruno Fernandes, who you suspect is very difficult to please, praised his work. “When you see results, then you get the belief. But results are not only scoring goals. It’s about everything working out.”
And it was somewhat telling that when Morgan Rogers scored the opening goal from a well-worked routine for Villa against Liverpool back in May, he ran past his teammates to celebrate with MacPhee on the touchline.
Morgan Rogers was straight over to Villa’s set-piece coach Austin MacPhee after he finished off a corner routine in style 🫂
He hits 10 league goals in a season for the first time in his career 🔟⚽✅ pic.twitter.com/6kVB4kgylA
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) May 15, 2026
That duo will of course now be reunited at Stamford Bridge, with Rogers joining for a fee of £117 million.
Should you be in any doubt about the importance of set pieces in modern football, it’s worth noting that the champions of the top four divisions of the English game in 2025/26 – Arsenal, Coventry City, Lincoln City and Bromley – all scored more set play goals than anyone else in their respective leagues.
You might argue that winning teams have more set pieces in dangerous areas because they’re successful – thus naturally they score more goals. A chicken-and-egg situation.
But there are many anomalies that counter the claim. Tottenham scored 19 Premier League goals from set plays in 2025/26… they avoided relegation by just two points. If they hadn’t been so proficient from dead ball situations, they may well have been demoted to the Championship for the first time in the modern era.
Chelsea’s set piece goal difference in 2025/26 was -4 (13 scored, 17 conceded). Arsenal’s, meanwhile, was +16. It’s pretty clear that the Blues can make a substantial gain in this department… and they couldn’t have a better man on board to facilitate that change.