The reserve team defender, who has been troubled by injury problems this season, is regarded as the best young player to come out of the academy in recent times. So today's news is by no means insignificant.
Castle made his first team debut almost a year ago, coming on as a late sub for fellow academy star Nathan Tyson in an end of season encounter with Watford at Vicarage Road. In doing so he became the youngest player ever to play for Reading Football Club in their 133-year history.
Whilst boss Steve Coppell won't immediately be thrusting the youngster into the first team, in years to come Castle's name could and should be one of the first names on the team sheet.
Speaking to Reading World, the 6ft 1inch defender revealed he is delighted to have secured a professional deal.
"I've always wanted to become a professional footballer so I'm delighted! I'm just taking things step by step, and hopefully the next step will be first team football, but there’s no timescale on that because I’m still young and improving my game," he said.
Hopefully Castle will be the first of a new generation of academy players who will actually break into the first team set-up. In the recent past the likes of Darius Henderson and Nathan Tyson have promised much but then never delivered.