FRISCO - If the next five years for Fabian Castillo are anything like the last four, today is a huge day for FC Dallas.
The club announced Tuesday morning that the 22-year-old Colombian winger has signed a new contract with the club keeping Castillo in Frisco through 2019.
“We’re very excited to have secured the services of Fabian Castillo for the future,” said FC Dallas Technical Director Fernando Clavijo in a press release. “He is the future of this franchise. He is a player we have been able to help grow. We also believe he has yet to achieve his full potential. FC Dallas has a more mature and complete player in Fabian today than we did a few years ago, but each year he remains with FC Dallas, the better he will become.”
READ: FC Dallas signs Fabian Castillo to five-year contract extension
Having arrived at FCD at just 18 years old, the young and dynamic player has shown flashes of brilliance throughout his four-year MLS career, but 2014 was the season where he put everything together. Castillo finished the year with 10 goals plus four more in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, more than doubling the amount he's scored in his previous three years with the team. Castillo set career highs in goals, minutes and starts in 2014 and looks poised to take his game to even bigger heights in 2015.
Head coach Oscar Pareja, who was instrumental in bringing Castillo to the club prior to the 2011 season, knows what a coup it is for the club to lock down a cornerstone of the franchise like Castillo.
"It says three important things. The first one is showing the growing of the league," said Pareja after Tuesday's practice. "It’s a league who has been attractive for not just the guys here but from other places. Second is the big commitment that the ownership has for our team putting guys in a comfortable place and making them feel valuable. Third is the commitment from the player. He knows that he’s growing here and the process is still going. I’m very happy to see things coming together."
