• Italian club have option to sign goalkeeper on permanent basis • 29-year-old had fallen down the pecking order at Arsenal

David Ospina has joined Napoli on loan with the Italian club having the option to buy the goalkeeper from Arsenal on a permanent basis.

Ospina has fallen down the pecking order at Arsenal following the arrival of Bernd Leno from Bayer Leverkusen for €22m (£19.2m) this summer, with Petr Cech maintaining his status as the club’s No 1 goalkeeper. The Colombian has therefore decided to move on.

Napoli have been searching for a goalkeeper since the new signing Alex Meret broke his arm in training last month and had been linked with a move for Liverpool’s Simon Mignolet. They have instead signed Ospina having held talks with representatives of the 29-year-old.

Ospina joined Arsenal from Nice in July 2014 for £3m, having impressed for his country at that year’s World Cup. He was mainly used by former manager Arsène Wenger in cup competitions and rarely impressed, leading to Wenger’s successor, Unai Emery, deciding he was surplus to requirements at the north London club.