Jernade Meade
Jernade Meade in action for Arsenal in the Champions League against Olympiakos. [Reuters]

Arsenal have confirmed that ten young professionals will leave the club when their contracts expire at the end of June.

Under Arsene Wenger the club have consistently promoted from within but Conor Henderson, Jernade Meade, Sanchez Watt, James Shea, Reice Charles-Cook, Sead Hajrovic, Philip Roberts, Nigel Neita, Samir Bihmoutine and Josh Rees have all been shown the door.

The players will be available to join other clubs on a free transfer from July 1 and there is likely to be plenty of interest in Henderson, Meade and Watt who all made first team appearances for Arsenal during their time at the club.

Meade, who was a regular for the Under-21 side, made two first team appearances last season, one in the thrilling 7-5 League Cup win over Reading in October and just two months later he made his Champions League debut in the 2-1 loss to Olympiakos.

Henderson had also made one senior appearance for the club when he appeared in the FA Cup replay against Leyton Orient in the 2010/11 season. The 21 year old regularly features for the Republic of Ireland at Under-21 level but had struggled to make an impact at Arsenal in recent seasons.

Watt has been loaned out on several occasions already having had spells at Colchester United, Sheffield Wednesday, Crawley Town, Leeds United and Southend. The striker made three appearances in the first team and last season scored five goals in nine Under-21 games.

Shea, who won the FA Youth Cup in 2009 with Watt, had struggled to make an impression at Arsenal and will be joined by fellow goalkeeper Charles-Cook in leaving the club.

Midfielder Rees, left-back Bihmoutine and striker Neita all featured for the Under-21 side last season but will now hope that they can find another club this summer.

Roberts may well hope that he can earn a permanent deal at Scottish side Iverness Caledonian Thistle after playing 23 times for the club last season while at the club on loan.

Hajrovic, who made his senior debut while on loan at Barnet, will also need to find a new club and will hope that his displays for the Arsenal Under-21 side last season caught the attention of a number of clubs.

Despite these ten players leaving the club there is still high hopes for a number of players in the academy with the likes of Hector Bellerin, Serge Gnabry and Nico Yennaris all pushing to be involved in the first team.

Source: Arsenal.com