Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown has slammed Chelsea’s decision to spend over £60m on the signing of Marc Cucurella.

The 24-year-old was announced as a Chelsea player on Friday, and Keown has joined the likes of Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher to criticise the transfer.

According to the Arsenal legend, signing Cucurella when Chelsea have Marcos Alonso and Ben Chilwell is a panic buy.

“Chelsea have gone out and paid £60-odd million for Cucurella – I think that’s nonsensical,” Keown told talkSPORT.

“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. 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,” Keown added.

“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 come in and he wants to make a difference. On the eve of the new season he’s making a statement with that kind of signing. Is it overspending? I think maybe it is.”