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Leeds United face growing competition for attacker Yassir Zabiri as he is being ‘closely monitored’ by La Liga side Real Betis.
The 21-year-old striker joined French outfit Rennes in the January window and in the summer he was loaned out to La Liga outfit Racing Santander.
Zabiri has been in terrific form since joining the Spanish club, as he has managed to find the back of the net on nine occasions in 12 appearances.
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His performances in front of goal have placed him among the leading goalscorers of La Liga this season and his exploits have not gone unnoticed.
Premier League outfit Leeds, who failed to bring in a new striker in the summer, are ‘showing strong interest’ in the forward and Ipswich Town are also among his admirers.
The Whites have scouted Zabiri several times to assess his potential and with Daniel Farke relying chiefly on Dominic Calvert-Lewin to score the side’s goals, a move to bring in the Racing Santander man could surely hold real appeal.
Leeds’ path though is not clear and now Zabiri has further suitors.
According to Spanish outlet El Desmarque, Real Betis are now ‘closely monitoring’ the 21-year-old.
| Manager | Time at Club |
|---|---|
| Daniel Farke | July 2023 – present |
| Sam Allardyce | May 2023 – June 2023 |
| Javi Gracia | February 2023 – May 2023 |
| Jesse Marsch | February 2022 – February 2023 |
| Marcelo Bielsa | June 2018 – February 2022 |
It is suggested that the Real Betis hierarchy highly admire Zabiri and the player has been scouted by the club representatives in person.
Real Betis’ interest in the player is still in the early stages, but Zabiri has the same agents as Troy Parrott, which adds another layer of intrigue to the situation.
Rennes paid €10m to Portuguese outfit Famalicao to acquire Zabiri’s signature and his current loan deal with Racing Santander does not include any option to buy clause.
Racing Santander do not want to lose Zabiri mid-season and would like to sign him on a permanent basis themselves.
If big clubs such as Leeds and Real Betis become concrete in their interest though, life could become difficult for Racing Santander.
Whether Leeds do intend to investigate if they can interrupt Zabiri’s loan remains to be seen, but Real Betis, who finished fifth in La Liga last term, are powerful rivals for his signature.