With 31 young professionals on their books, there has been some speculation of late as to whether there will be something of a mass cull of the Arsenal Reserve squad this summer.

As it transpires there may not be as many reductions as some may anticipate, but the club will certainly be looking to move some individuals on due to the restrictions imposed by the 25-man squad rule, whilst they will also seek to make room for the 12 new scholars who will be starting in July.

Some of the long-term servants of the second string could well see their associations with the club come to an end within the next couple of months, with defender Gavin Hoyte, whose time at the club has encompassed four separate loan spells, having featured for Stevenage Reserves yesterday. Hoyte is out of contract in the summer and is all but certain to depart, whilst there are others who fall into that category, such as George Brislen-Hall, who has made just a solitary under-18 appearance all season, and Rhys Murphy, who has been plagued with injuries and is currently attempting to resurrect his career whilst on loan at Preston North End. Goalkeeper James Shea is set to leave, and a decision will have to be made on the future of Jernade Meade, whose contract is also due to expire, although, judging by the tenacious youngster’s performances this campaign, a new deal should be in order.

Sanchez Watt and Sead Hajrovic, on loan at Crawley Town and Barnet respectively, may also depart on a permanent basis, and goalkeeper Sean McDermott could join Leeds United having spent time with their Reserves and under-18s recently. Decisions may also have to be made on both Henri Lansbury and Kyle Bartley, with the duo having amassed considerable experience via several loan spells in recent years without really threatening to break into Arsene Wenger’s first-team squad.

There will be some room for promotions, however. Goalkeeper Damian Martinez is likely to be elevated into the first team set-up with question marks over the futures of Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone, and Thomas Eisfeld, who scored on his return for the Reserves yesterday, could feature in the senior squad next season in some capacity. Wenger recently described Benik Afobe as “the next striker who will come into our squad”, although whether the England under-19 international is promoted this summer may depend on whether he can make a sustained impact at Reading in the remainder of the season.

Eisfeld operated as a centre forward yesterday, and although the move could be viewed as something of an experiment due to the lack of options currently at Neil Banfield’s disposal, it would not be beyond the realms of possibility for the young German to feature in that position for the first team in 2012/13, given the current dearth of strikers in the squad.