Softfootball can affirm Chelsea’s new set-piece coach, Austin MacPhee, is about to affix the membership’s pre-season squad in Hong Kong after finishing his transfer from Aston Villa.
Earlier on July 25, 2026, Chelsea activated the discharge clause in MacPhee’s contract, paving the best way for the highly-rated coach to turn out to be a part of Xabi Alonso’s backroom employees at Stamford Bridge.
The 46-year-old brings an finish to his five-year spell at Aston Villa, the place he established himself as one among soccer’s main set-piece specialists. MacPhee had already bid farewell to employees at Villa Park earlier than making the swap, leaving Villa looking for a alternative forward of the 2026/27 marketing campaign.
His arrival follows the departure of Bernardo Cueva as a part of Alonso’s teaching restructure, with Chelsea hoping MacPhee’s experience will additional strengthen the workforce’s tactical strategy from dead-ball conditions.
In the meantime, Mykhaylo Mudryk can be travelling to Hong Kong to rejoin Chelsea’s pre-season squad after the decision of his long-running doping case.
The Ukrainian winger is now instantly out there to Alonso after the Soccer Affiliation and the World Anti-Doping Company (WADA) accepted a suspension equal to the time he had already served, clearing him to return to first-team soccer for the primary time in nearly two years.
