COLUMBUS – The Columbus Crew today announced that Homegrown Player Aaron Horton has been loaned to the Los Angeles Blues of USL Pro on a short-term loan. Per Major League Soccer and club policy, additional details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Horton was signed as the Crew's first-ever Homegrown Player on May 17, 2011 and made his MLS debut in a substitute appearance on June 8, 2011 against Real Salt Lake at Crew Stadium. Horton did not make a first-team appearance in 2012, but scored his first professional goal in a friendly match against Barclays Premier League side Stoke City on July 24, 2012. The Lewis Center, Ohio native made eight appearances as a substitute in MLS Reserve League action in 2012, tallying once.
Following the conclusion of the 2012 campaign, Horton spent his offseason traveling the globe between a mission trip to South Africa and trials with FK Sarajevo in Bosnia and Hammarby IF in Sweden. After completion of rehabilitation from a surgery to replace a torn lateral meniscus on April 3, 2013, Horton recently saw his first action of 2013 in a substitute appearance for the Crew Reserves at Toronto FC on May 18.
