Aston Villa are currently linked with a new set-piece coach who happens to be working with Erling Haaland as well.
Aston Villa’s summer preparations for the new season have been hit by the departure of a vital member of Unai Emery’s staff. Their set-piece coach, Austin MacPhee, also moved to Chelsea alongside Morgan Rogers after his release clause was met.
His role in Villa’s success was essential as he helped John McGinn and Co. end their 30-year title drought, enjoy a progressive campaign in the Premier League and score 29 goals from set pieces alone last year. It was the highest total in Europe alongside Arsenal.
Currently, The Lions are targeting MacPhee’s replacement. One figure they are approaching is Pal Fjelde, Burnley’s set-piece coach, as reported by Birmingham World.
“Talks are ongoing with Burnley over the terms of the move, with Unai Emery hopeful of adding Fjelde to his backroom team.”
Fjelde has been Burnley’s set-piece coach since last season. He is also working for the Norway national team in the same position, a post he has held since 2022.
The 32-year-old was also a former footballer who used to play as a defender or defensive midfielder. He had brief spells with Viking Stavanger, Scottish lower-tier side St Mirren, Faroe Islands side 07 Vestur and Staal. Fjelde featured quite regularly for Bryne during two different spells. In his first stint from 2015 to 2017, he even played alongside a young Erling Haaland.
Before retiring in 2021, Fjelde had already started coaching youth sides in 2018 with Bryne. He also worked with the youth team at Viking Stavanger in 2020 before taking up a player-manager role at Staal.
In 2021, the Jorpeland-born coach was signed to become part of Viking Stavanger’s first-team backroom staff. A year later, he began his career as a set-piece coach under Norway boss Stale Solbakken without leaving his role at the club.
Prior to his arrival at Burnley last summer, the Norwegian coach had already worked for Danish Superliga side Viborg from 2023 to 2025, although not as a set-piece specialist. His role there was more general as an assistant manager, similar to what he had done at Viking. His dual roles with Viborg and Norway really helped him develop his routines, methods and ideas to optimize set pieces for scoring goals or at least creating space to find the back of the net.
Fjelde’s work at Burnley might not have been impressive enough to attract much attention. They only scored 10 goals from dead-ball situations last season, which was the worst record in the Premier League. The Clarets struggled to survive in the top flight and were eventually relegated again.
His work with the Norway national team at the 2026 FIFA World Cup was not particularly eye-catching either. Solbakken’s men only scored once from a set-piece situation. However, if one looks more closely, Norway did manage to pose a more dangerous threat from such situations, especially from corner kicks.
This was evident in their clashes against France, Senegal, Ivory Coast and England. Their corner kicks, mainly delivered by Martin Odegaard, led to shots on target, scrambles in the box that created scoring opportunities, and even attempts that struck the woodwork.
Villa see potential in both his work and his profile. He is known to have been obsessed with football coaching from a young age and to be keen on detailed tactical preparation, which is quite similar to Emery himself.
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