Manchester City are weighing up a January move for Real Betis defender Natan, with manager Enzo Maresca understood to have personally pushed the club’s hierarchy to pursue the Brazilian when the winter window opens.
The 25-year-old centre-back has established himself as a regular fixture in Real Betis’ back line since arriving from Napoli, initially on loan in 2024 before the Spanish club made the move permanent for around €9m the following year.
According to Spanish outlet Fichero, whose report was translated and relayed by Sport Witness, Maresca has formally asked City’s recruitment staff to try to get a deal for Natan over the line in January. The request reflects a long-standing admiration for the player that dates back well over a year.
Maresca’s history with the target
Maresca’s interest in Natan is not a new development. The Italian began tracking the defender while in charge of Chelsea, and saw him up close when his side beat Real Betis 4-1 in the UEFA Conference League final in May 2025 It was a heavy defeat for the Spanish side that, by most accounts, did little to dent Maresca’s view of the player’s qualities.
City’s need at centre-back has sharpened since the summer, when Nathan Aké, John Stones and Manuel Akanji all left the club, leaving Pep Guardiola’s successor with fewer senior options in that position. City are understood to have first registered their interest in Natan in August as a result.
Since then, the defender has been a consistent presence for Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis side, and his form has not gone unnoticed elsewhere in the Premier League.
Leeds United had a €27m bid rejected for him in the summer, while both Brentford and Fulham were also credited with interest. None of the three clubs were able to turn that interest into a deal, underlining how reluctant Real Betis are to let him go.
Two significant obstacles stand in City’s way
Real Betis are reported to value Natan at around €40m — more than €10m above the fee Leeds had turned down — which would represent a substantial but not prohibitive outlay for a club of City’s resources. The bigger complication may lie elsewhere.
Natan is said to favour a move to Barcelona over a switch to the Premier League. The Catalan club registered their own interest in the defender over the summer without following it up with a concrete offer, but their shirt remains understood to be his preferred destination should a move materialise.
That leaves City facing the task of changing the player’s mind as much as agreeing a fee with Real Betis.
There is, for now, no suggestion that City have opened formal negotiations with Real Betis, nor that any offer has been submitted.
The January window does not open until the new year, and interest at this stage amounts to a stated preference from the manager rather than an advanced pursuit.
Should a deal progress, Natan would offer City a left-footed, physically imposing option to shore up a defence that has looked light in depth since the summer departures.
His willingness to compete for individual duels and his experience in a deep-lying back line under Pellegrini have been cited as attributes that could translate well into Maresca’s system at the Etihad.
