Muizz Mustapha aiming for consistency in 2024 after signing new deal with Castleford Tigers

​Mustapha has made a big impression with Cas fans with some wholehearted displays in his first season with the club, appearing 16 times in 2023.

In October he signed an initial one-year extension after the option in his contract was activated by the club. But since then, the 23-year-old expressed a desire to commit to the club on a longer-term basis and has done so by signing another new deal.

“I’m really pleased, it’s been a tough couple of years for me personally,” said Mustapha.

"I’m glad we managed to stay up and I’m able to stay at the club for the next few years and hopefully they’re a good few years.

“(My aim for the season) is probably to play more games than last year. It’s a simple goal but a difficult one as I’ve got to play well every week to keep my spot and contribute to the team in any way I can.“Pre-season’s been tough this year, I think we’re taking on things that we struggled with last year and implement them into training, hoping to improve on these this year and fix up the areas where we weren’t good enough.

"All the lads are working hard to get into the best shape they can.”Mustapha spoke on how much he appreciates the fans backing he receives at Cas.

He added: “It’s surreal, I don’t see myself as anyone special. I just try my best and I think the fans can see that. I appreciate the support that they give me and for them to be singing a song about me, it’s a great feeling.”

Tigers director of rugby operations Danny Wilson is pleased to see the player commit further to the club.

He said: “Muizz is a player we’ve targeted and he’s who we want to be at the club long term, everything we spoke about in the off season and pre-season is about our vision, DNA and the culture we’re trying to build and he’s a big part of that.

"Getting Muizz to agree to stay shows that he’s enjoying himself here and that he sees his future here at our club, which is very exciting for us.

“We’ve got a plan, it’ll take time, but we know where we want to get to. We want to be successful in the long term, but we want the success to be sustainable and to do that you have to have investment from the right people we need to make sure they’re on the same page with our vision."

Wilson added: “Martin Jepson is on definitely the same page and it’s exciting as well as the rest of the board.

"Martin putting that investment in allows us to accelerate the retention of some of the players we have. Fletcher Rooney is a big example of that, and Muizz Mustapha is an example of the core group of players that we want to retain and make sure we achieve our plan and vision over the next few years.”