Crew center back Gaston Sauro has left the club for Deportivo Toluca of Mexican top division Liga MX, a league source told The Dispatch on Tuesday.

The Crew received an undisclosed transfer fee for Sauro, whose contract was set to expire at the end of this season.

Sauro, 29, had struggled with injuries since he joined the Crew in 2015 after playing professionally in Italy, Switzerland and his native Argentina. This season, Sauro has bounced back to start in 15 games, scoring twice early in the season.

Sauro nearly had his career ended with complications from knee injuries. He initially tore his posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. When he returned from that, he played five games before he had severe cartilage damage in the knee that required a cartilage donor before he could have it operated on.

He missed all of the 2017 season and much of the 2016 and '18 seasons. He has missed the past four games with a thigh injury he suffered in a game against Orlando City on July 13.

The departure of Sauro leaves the Crew with four center backs on its roster for the remaining nine games of the season, which doesn’t include Lalas Abubakar, who is on a full-season loan with the Colorado Rapids.

The Crew has rotated Sauro and Josh Williams at the center back position next to Jonathan Mensah when the team has been at full strength.

Mensah just returned from an injury and played almost 90 minutes at San Jose on Saturday, while Williams has missed the past two games because of injury and has struggled with a foot injury for most of last season and this year.

Homegrown center backs Aboubacar Keita and Alex Crognale have started recent games when Sauro, Mensah and Williams have been unavailable.

Sauro finished his time with the Crew making 39 appearances in three full seasons and two half seasons.

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