May 11 (Reuters) - England forward Beth Mead will leave Arsenal at the end of the season after nine years, the Women's Super League club said on Monday.
Mead, who has scored 86 goals in 263 appearances for Arsenal, helped the club win the WSL in 2018-19 and set up the goal that clinched victory in last season's Women's Champions League final against Barcelona.
"Beth has made a huge contribution to our football club over nine years, and will go down in history as one of our best forwards and a legend of the club," said Clare Wheatley, Arsenal's director of women's football.
The 31-year-old former Sunderland player was also part of the England squad that won back-to-back European Championships, but she missed the 2023 World Cup due to an anterior cruciate ligament rupture.
Mead, the only player with more than 50 goals and 50 assists in WSL history, also suffered a hairline fracture in February that sidelined her for five weeks.
This term she has started only 10 WSL games as Arsenal sit a point behind second-placed Chelsea and seven adrift of champions Manchester City with a game in hand.
Arsenal, who are trying to clinch a guaranteed Champions League qualifying spot with a top-two finish, conclude their season against visitors Everton and at Liverpool this week.
Arsenal's 26-year-old Netherlands midfielder Victoria Pelova, who joined the North London club in 2023, will also leave at the end of the campaign.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
