‘My contacts have spoken’ - Xabi Alonso masterminding another Chelsea raid on Aston Villa

Xabi Alonso is the driving force behind Chelsea’s imminent move to snatch Aston Villa set-piece coach Austin MacPhee. 

That is according to former Villa chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that the new Blues boss has earmarked dead-ball situations as a major point for improvement.

This comes after the news that the Scottish coach is on the verge of moving to Stamford Bridge, after the West Londoners triggered the release clause in his Villa contract. 

Wyness has outlined that MacPhee is extremely well-thought of at the top level of English football, after his exceptional work with Villa in recent years. 

Under his guidance, the second city outfit have scored 49 set-piece goals in the last three Premier League seasons, a tally which is only bettered by Arsenal, according to OptaJoe. 

MacPhee is undoubtedly a huge loss for Unai Emery and Co., and Wyness is in no doubt that the move has been pushed significantly by Alonso.

Xabi Alonso ‘ruling the roost’ at Chelsea

Villa’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Villa Park between 2016 and 2018 and now runs a consultancy business advising elite clubs – believes that Alonso is being allowed to bring in his own people at Chelsea. 

The Scottish businessman has made it clear that the Spaniard is “ruling the roost” in West London, and the decision to bring MacPhee on board is another example of that. 

Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Wyness explained why his countryman will be such a big loss for Villa. 

“It's come from Alonso, I’m pretty sure. If you look at Villa and McPhee, the record is incredible, and that’s no coincidence,” he said.

“He's very highly regarded within the game, and a lot of my contacts have spoken very highly about him for many seasons now. So he's obviously doing something right.

“Alonso will have wanted Chelsea to improve considerably on their set piece output as well. With the talent they've got, they should be doing that. It’s a very good move, and I've been very impressed with what Alonso's been putting together there.

“All these things he's paying attention to in terms of getting the blend of experience right and these sort of things were set pieces; it's all boding very well for Chelsea.

“The MacPhee move is a pointer that Alonso is ruling the roost and allowed to bring in the people he wants to.”

Alejandro Garnacho deal a ‘no-brainer’ for Aston Villa

Former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson recently told Football Insider that Villa’s move to sign Alejandro Garnacho from Chelsea on loan until the end of the season is a “no-brainer.”

The football finance expert made it clear that he would be “surprised” if the deal is turned permanent, despite the conditional purchase obligation that has been inserted. 

Borson expects Villa to discard Garnacho if he gets injured or plays poorly, rather than allowing themselves to become tied into a permanent deal. 

He feels that there is no way that they can lose in that scenario, with the winger likely to return to Chelsea as soon as possible if things don’t go to plan.