*The Galaxy announced today that Inglewood’s Jose Villarreal has gone on loan to Mexico’s Cruz Azul for the 2014 MLS season. The Mexican club will have the option to buy the promising striker.

The 20-year-old made 31 appearances for the Galaxy last year, scoring four goals, but was generally outshone by fellow young forward Gyasi Zardes.

“Sending Jose Villarreal to Cruz Azul provides one of our Homegrown players an opportunity to gain additional experience,” said LA Galaxy general manager and head coach Bruce Arena. “We’ll monitor Jose’s play with Cruz Azul and wish him well while in Mexico.”

Incidentally, Villarreal will be a teammate of San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Rafael Baca (LMU) and midfielder Michael Farfan at Cruz Azul. The Philadelphia Union announced today that the latter midfielder was bought by the club.

*Also, the Columbus Crew signed 29-year-old midfielder Daniel Paladini from Chicago. The Van Nuys native also played for Chivas USA in 2008, the now-defufunct San Fernando Valley Quakes in 2007 and began his career with the Galaxy in 2006.