Former FC Dallas midfielder Fabian Castillo expressed his frustration with his controversial exit from the club this summer, a saga that saw the player ensconced in Turkey while his agent tweeted pictures from MLS' New York offices.
Castillo eventually was loaned to Trabzonspor this summer, with FC Dallas technical director Fernando Clavijo saying that the winger left the team without permission. But Castillo says he has evidence that MLS gave him permission to leave and pursue a move to Europe. Castillo also seemed to shut the door on a potential return to the team when the loan expires in the winter.
"I won't talk about whether it was deserved or not, what I believe is that it would've been fair for me to leave the club well. I always will be thankful for them because they made me grow as a professional and a player but I wasn't going to be able to stay in Dallas my whole life and a lot of people didn't understand that," Castillo told Dallas Spanish newspaper Al Dia. "One person said that I had flown out but I have evidence where MLS authorized me to fly out. Unfortunately I didn't leave well, but at the end of the day there are people who won't be at FC Dallas all their life and the day those people might not be there, maybe I could return to the club."
For the player, the move to Europe could've been an easy one, but FCD complicated it because some club officials thought he could be in Dallas for a longer period of time than he wanted to be.
"They made it a saga. It would have been easy because there already had been an agreement between the clubs, when the first time I decided not to come to Trabzonspor, but other people appeared with the proposal that I wanted and so there were a lot of snags because after the demands Trabzonspor made weren't what they wanted. It was a good opportunity for everybody, but FC Dallas didn't want to and never wanted to sell and I tried to fight to leave. God knows who worked in a bad way, and I'm calm about it.
The Colombian lived with current FC Dallas coach Oscar Pareja when he arrived in the United States when Pareja was still coaching in the FCD academy. Castillo said that he wasn't able to say goodbye to his coach or several others in the club but would like to keep those relationships intact, saying he still chats with some of his former teammates and hopes FCD can compete its domestic treble with a MLS Cup win.
"I wasn't able to speak with the manager, it was best not to involve him in the transfer, but I know that he's happy and proud because he know that my dream was to come to Europe. It wasn't possible because when I was planning my trip, they were in Colorado. There were a lot of people I couldn't say goodbye to, but I hope to return on vacation and say hello to all these people who still love me."
Castillo earned three national team call-ups for Colombia while playing in MLS but believes he has more respect in his own country now that he's made the move to Europe.
"A lot of journalists in Colombia who questioned my call-up because I was in MLS, I think now they'll see me in a different light because I'm in Europe and they'll give me a little more credit. I have to do the same thing I did in Dallas, that's how I'll be able to win another call-up.
Castillo is currently out three weeks with a hamstring injury after appearing in seven league games. He's still searching for his first goal in Europe.
FCD begins its playoff run Sunday in the first leg of the Western Conference semifinals against the Seattle Sounders.
