by Lee Hurley

Lukas Podolski will leave Arsenal and sign for Turkish side Galatasaray today [Saturday].

The announcement was made in an official statement to the stock exchange on their website and the player is expected to have his medical before signing a three-year deal.

“…for the transfer of Podolski has begun formal negotiations with the player to come tomorrow morning, then we will be sponsoring Istanbul hospital passed health checks. The public will be informed of developments.“

He will sign during a ‘contract signing ceremony’ according to Turkish-football.com which will take place at 12pm (UK) [this time now updated to 2.30pm UK].

Arsene Wenger reportedly tried to keep hold of the German World Cup winner but Poldi was, not surprisingly, unhappy at being kept around to just be used as a super-sub.

With just one year left on his Arsenal deal, the Gunners are said to have agreed a fee just over £2.5m for him and his salary will be €4.5m (including bonuses), making him joint-highest earner at the club with Wesley Sneijder.