Arsenal have confirmed that Bernd Leno has left the club to join Fulham on a permanent deal.

The Germany international was signed for a £22.5m fee from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2018 and competed with Petr Cech for the number one spot during the 2018-19 season.

Leno soon became Unai Emery's number one and held his place under Mikel Arteta, despite Emiliano Martinez's trophy-winning exploits during his time on the sidelines.

Martinez left the club when Leno retained possession of the gloves in 2020, but the arrival of Aaron Ramsdale pushed the 30-year-old down the pecking order last season.

Furthermore, the Gunners have added Matt Turner to their goalkeeping ranks for the 2022-23 season, which saw Leno drop to third choice at the Emirates Stadium.

Leno paid tribute to Arsenal fans on Instagram in a goodbye message, posting: "Hey Arsenal fans, It's time to move on for me. It's been a pleasure to be part of this great football club for 4 amazing years.

"Thank you very much for your support. Also a big thank you to my team mates and the staff behind the team. I'm looking forward to see you soon at the Emirates ❤️💪🏽😃"

Leno has signed a contract at Craven Cottage until 2025 with the option of a further year and joins Kevin Mbabu, Joao Palhinha, Andreas Pereira and Manor Solomon at the club for the upcoming campaign.

The former Stuttgart youngster follows the likes of Alexandre Lacazette, Dinos Mavropanos, Matteo Guendouzi, Omari Hutchinson and Dan Ballard out of the exit door, and more are expected to follow in the coming hours.

Folarin Balogun is understood to have all but sealed a loan move to Ligue 1 club Reims, while Lucas Torreira has flown to Turkey ahead of a permanent switch to Galatasaray. body check tags ::