'Nonsensical' - Arsenal legend criticises Chelsea for Marc Cucurella transfer

Martin Keown says it is "nonsensical" that Chelsea paid £62million to sign defender Marc Cucurella from Brighton.

The Spaniard joined Albion just under a year ago from Getafe for £15million but have now sold him to the Blues for more than four times that amount. The 24-year-old enjoyed a superb season with the Seagulls, winning the club's player of the season and players' player of the season awards after a stellar Premier League campaign.

It looked like the former Barcelona youngster, who handed in a transfer request last week, may join Manchester City earlier this summer but Thomas Tuchel's men stole the march on their Premier League rivals as they were willing to meet the Sussex side's asking price.

But Arsenal legend Keown was flabbergasted by the fee Chelsea forked out to sign Cucurella, who is now the most expensive full-back in Premier League history. He believes this is a "panic buy" from the Blues, that there are better players out there, and they have overspent on the Spanish international.

“Chelsea have gone out and paid £60-odd million for Cucurella – I think that’s nonsensical. It’s an incredible amount of money. I think it’s too much. Cucurella, as good as he is, I think there are still players out there that are better. To pay that kind of money with Ben Chilwell still there, [Marcos] Alonso’s still there," he told talkSPORT.

"It does feel like it’s panic buying. If you look at last season, if I had to say of the top four teams, if there’s one that could slide out of the top four, it could be Chelsea. Thomas Tuchel is an outstanding manager but all of his support team around him have disappeared. So there’s a bit of change there. The new owner’s [Todd Boelhy] come in and he wants to make a difference.