Official release from LA Galaxy

The LA Galaxy announced today that the club has signed 18-year-old midfielder Jose Villarreal as a Homegrown Player.

The Inglewood, Calif. native is the third player to be signed directly from the Galaxy Academy, joining Tristan Bowen, who, in 2008, was the first player in MLS history to be signed directly from a club's academy, and Jack McBean, who signed with the Galaxy in January 2011 and became the youngest player ever to play in a game and score a goal for the club in the regular season finale against Houston in October.

"Jose is a player that we have known and watched for a long time and it's been great to have him in our Academy this past year," Galaxy Academy Senior Director Chris Klein said.

"He has a tremendous amount of promise and potential and we're excited that he'll be able to continue his development with the first team."

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