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Juan Castillo, or sometimes Juan Familia-Castillo, had been on the verge of leaving Chelsea a couple times in recent seasons, coming close to joining Juventus or his former club, Ajax, but doing so with neither. Instead, he’s been biding his time in the Loan Army, splitting last season between AZ Alkmaar and ADO Den Haag in the Netherlands — featuring rarely for the former in the top division, and frequently for the latter in the Dutch second division.
Building on that success from the second half of the season, the 21-year-old has now joined Championship side Birmingham City on a season-long loan, as announced yesterday. As customary, Castillo appears to have signed a new Chelsea contract as well, extending by an additional year, through 2023.
"I’m a player that likes to be on the ball, that likes to attack and likes to hurt teams."
— Birmingham City FC (@BCFC) July 6, 2021
Juan Castillo tells you what to expect from him this season after putting pen to paper on a season-long loan deal. pic.twitter.com/l6pLofhfPV
Netherlands youth international Castillo was not too long ago a very highly rated attacking left (wing-)back, and while his performances dropped off last season, he’s still very young and should be far from written off.
Good luck, Juan!
Juan Castillo, Jong Ajax 2019-20.
— StatsBomb (@StatsBomb) March 19, 2020
It's a soft league, but I am intrigued. pic.twitter.com/PdqNc6eonv