Leeds United must exercise Natan caution after concerning evidence - View

Leeds United are reportedly planning on a swoop for Real Betis defender Natan, but they may wish to have a rethink.

The 25-year-old central defender has been with Betis since signing on loan from Napoli in the summer of 2024, before joining permanently last year.

He's become an important member of Manuel Pellegrini's squad for the Seville-based outfit, playing 97 times for them in all competitions.

Natan began his career in his homeland of Brazil with Flamengo, making his professional debut in September 2020 against Palmeiras.

Now entering the prime years of his career, he could be set to test himself in the Premier League next season.

However, the price Leeds may have to pay for him should give them reason to pause before launching into any transfer commitment.

How did Natan fare in La Liga last season?

Few established senior players come cheap in the transfer market these days, and Natan doesn't appear to be an exception either.

FootballFanCast report that Real Betis value their star defender at around £39million, which would set a new Leeds transfer record after the £35m they spent on Georginio Rutter in 2023.

Because of this, the Whites need to be 100 per cent confident that this is an investment worth making, but they surely won't find that reassurance in his underlying stats from 2025-26.

Natan played 33 times in La Liga last term, with 32 of those being as part of the starting XI and culminating in just over 2,800 minutes of league action.

As per FotMob, however, his 52.6 per cent duels won rate and 1.02 tackles per 90 ranked him in the bottom 21 and 19 per cent of La Liga centre-backs in 2025-26.

Meanwhile, his 40.5 successful passes per 90 and 1.63 accurate long balls per game placed him in the lower 34 and 20 percentiles respectively among his positional rivals.

Natan also recorded just 0.10 successful dribbles, made 3.20 recoveries, took 0.54 touches in the opposition box and completed 1.15 interceptions per game respectively.

Natan's disciplinary record should worry Leeds

It also doesn't matter how talented a player you are, if you're not available for selection because you've been suspended, then that talent isn't much good to your manager.

Since moving to Betis, however, Natan has struggled to stay in the referees' good books.

Indeed, he received eight yellow cards in 2025-26, committing 28 fouls in La Liga last term.

Rewind to 2024-25, and he picked up five yellow cards as well as one red in 31 La Liga games, with his fouls per 90 also increasing from 0.79 that year to 0.90 last term respectively.

So, for the financial investment his signature would seemingly cost Leeds, Natan's numbers in a host of key areas for a centre-back are surely not where the Whites would want them to be.

Being Leeds' new record signing would put a lot of responsibility and pressure on Natan to perform and set an example, which when paired with a poor disciplinary record doesn't make for great reading.