Tuchel dismisses Neville's 'panic' claim as Chelsea boss hails 'fantastic' insomniac Boehly

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has dismissed Gary Neville's claim that the approach of new owner Todd Boehly in the transfer window was panicked.

It was announced on Friday that Chelsea have completed the £62million transfer of Marc Cucurella from Brighton, who has become the club's fifth signing this summer.

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The Barcelona academy graduate follows the arrivals of Raheem Sterling from Man City (£47.5m), Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli (£33m), Gabriel Slonina from Chicago Fire (£12m pounds) and Aston Villa's Carney Chukwuemeka (£20m). for a total outlay of £172m to date, with further additions expected.

Boehly stepped into the role of Chelsea chairman and spent the summer as interim sporting director, taking charge of transfer negotiations in tandem with Tuchel.

Neville claimed there was an element of panic in Boehly's strategy, but Tuchel was quick to hail the "fantastic job" Boehly and co-owner Behdad Eghbaline did in the window.

Asked about Neville's comments, Tuchel replied: "Panic? No, I would describe him as super hardworking and learning while being new to the job.

"So it's pretty much ongoing, new ownership and then getting into the transfer market is probably one of the hardest things you can do when you're coming from outside.

"But I have nothing but the utmost respect and compliments for Todd and Behdad.

"I don't know when they sleep, maybe they never sleep.

"But we have a very honest, very open and very direct line of communication and the transfers so far speak for themselves.

"We're behind of course, we've been behind because of the sanctions and the sanctions have resulted in the loss of key players.

"But as I said, both owners are involved in day to day business, they are doing a fantastic job so far and the transfer market speaks for itself."

Chelsea are not planning to stop after signing Cucurella and are reportedly looking for a new striker after Romelu Lukaku returns on loan to Inter Milan.

In a surprising development, the Blues have been linked with former Arsenal man Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in recent days.

Tuchel enjoyed success with the Borussia Dortmund striker, but is adamant that talking about his move to Chelsea is 'pure speculation'.

"We won't comment. There are a lot of names out there. It's pure speculation and we won't get involved."