diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinator.java b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinator.java
index c28c3f9dd73de..9bab08d3f4772 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinator.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinator.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.AtomicArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.CountDown;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.Index;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.license.LicenseUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ccr.CcrLicenseChecker;
@@ -370,7 +371,7 @@ static List<Index> getLeaderIndicesToFollow(String clusterAlias,
                         // has a leader index uuid custom metadata entry that matches with uuid of leaderIndexMetaData variable
                         // If so then handle it differently: not follow it, but just add an entry to
                         // AutoFollowMetadata#followedLeaderIndexUUIDs
-                        if (TransportPutFollowAction.canFollow(clusterAlias, leaderIndexMetaData) == null) {
+                        if (leaderIndexMetaData.getSettings().getAsBoolean(IndexSettings.INDEX_SOFT_DELETES_SETTING.getKey(), false)) {
                             leaderIndicesToFollow.add(leaderIndexMetaData.getIndex());
                         }
                     }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/TransportPutFollowAction.java b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/TransportPutFollowAction.java
index 05aecf1745022..f79a95204aec9 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/TransportPutFollowAction.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/TransportPutFollowAction.java
@@ -103,20 +103,6 @@ protected void masterOperation(
         createFollowerIndexAndFollowRemoteIndex(request, leaderCluster, leaderIndex, listener);
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Pre-flight check if the given index can be a leader index.
-     * This method returns {@code null} if no issue found; otherwise it returns the first issue that it found.
-     */
-    static Exception canFollow(String leaderCluster, IndexMetaData leaderIndexMetaData) {
-        Objects.requireNonNull(leaderIndexMetaData, "leader index metadata must not be null");
-        // soft-deletes is mandatory for the leader index.
-        if (leaderIndexMetaData.getSettings().getAsBoolean(IndexSettings.INDEX_SOFT_DELETES_SETTING.getKey(), false) == false) {
-            return new IllegalArgumentException("leader index [" + leaderCluster + ":" + leaderIndexMetaData.getIndex().getName()
-                + "] does not have soft deletes enabled");
-        }
-        return null;
-    }
-
     private void createFollowerIndexAndFollowRemoteIndex(
             final PutFollowAction.Request request,
             final String leaderCluster,
@@ -139,11 +125,9 @@ private void createFollowerIndex(
             listener.onFailure(new IllegalArgumentException("leader index [" + request.getLeaderIndex() + "] does not exist"));
             return;
         }
-
-        final Exception preFlightError = canFollow(request.getLeaderCluster(), leaderIndexMetaData);
-        if (preFlightError != null) {
-            listener.onFailure(preFlightError);
-            return;
+        if (leaderIndexMetaData.getSettings().getAsBoolean(IndexSettings.INDEX_SOFT_DELETES_SETTING.getKey(), false) == false) {
+            listener.onFailure(
+                new IllegalArgumentException("leader index [" + request.getLeaderIndex() + "] does not enable soft-deletes"));
         }
 
         ActionListener<Boolean> handler = ActionListener.wrap(