Marc Cucurella’s move to Chelsea ‘a panic buy’, says Arsenal legend Martin Keown, whose brands move for ‘insane’ Brighton star with ‘better players there’ for £60m sterling

Martin Keown believes Chelsea’s swoop for Brighton defender Marc Cucurella is ‘panic buying’ on the eve of the new Premier League season.

Cucurella put pen to paper on a six-year contract at Stamford Bridge on Friday, in a deal worth an estimated £60million.

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Manchester City led the hunt for left-back but were unwilling to meet Brighton’s valuation of over £50m, with their latest offer standing at around £40m.

But City’s loss is Chelsea’s gain and the Blues have agreed a deal to make Cucurella the seventh most expensive defender of all time, despite costing the Seagulls just £15million there one year old.

The deal represents a record transfer fee for Brighton, while Cucurella becomes Chelsea’s fourth most expensive signing behind Romelu Lukaku, Kai Havertz and Kepa Arrizabalaga.

If the transfer fee was over £60million with bonuses or add-ons, that would also make Cucurella the most expensive full-back in football history – with the current record set by the club. £60m deal from Man City for Joao Cancelo.

And Martin Keown sees the acquisition as a panic buy by the Blues, insisting there are “better players out there” for the same price.

“Chelsea went out and paid around £60million for Cucurella – I think that’s nonsense,” the Arsenal legend told White and Jordan.

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“It’s an incredible amount of money. I think that’s too much. Cucurella, as good as he is, I think there are still players who are better.

“To pay that kind of money with Ben Chilwell still there, [Marcos] Alonso is still there. It’s like panic buying.

Chelsea have endured a topsy-turvy pre-season after a difficult final months of last season’s campaign.

Thomas Tuchel’s men have made their defense a priority following the departures of Andreas Cristensen and Antonio Rudiger and, despite the additions of Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly, Keown believes Chelsea could have a battle on their hands to finish at new in the top four this season.

“If you look at last season, if I had to say of the top four teams, if there’s one that could come out of the top four, it could be Chelsea,” said the former centre-back.

“Thomas Tuchel is an outstanding manager but his entire support team around him has disappeared. So there is a bit of a change.

“The new owner has arrived and he wants to make a difference. On the eve of the new season, he makes a statement with this kind of signing. Is this overspending? I think that may be the case.

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Chelsea have also been linked with a transfer of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Barcelona following Romelu Lukaku’s loan move to Inter Milan, and Keown believes the former Arsenal striker would be a perfect fit at Stamford Bridge.

He said: “Aubameyang would be an interesting signing. He scored a string of goals for Barcelona. It would be a bargain.

“They’re under pressure. Looking at Tottenham’s emergence, maybe Arsenal are doing too well in pre-season, Chelsea are under pressure right now.

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