Crystal Palace and Everton Complete Johnson–McNeil Swap Deal
Crystal Palace and Everton have agreed a straight swap deal for Brennan Johnson and Dwight McNeil, drawing a dramatic line under one of last season’s most contentious transfer sagas.
No fees. No add‑ons. Just two wingers trading places – and one club returning for a player whose aborted move sparked a public row over his mental health.
Palace go back for McNeil
McNeil is finally heading to Selhurst Park, six months after Palace walked away from a £20m deal on deadline day and left the winger and his family stunned.
Both McNeil and Johnson are understood to have agreed four-year contracts with an option for a further 12 months, with medicals scheduled for Monday. McNeil, now into the final year of his Everton contract, gets the move that seemed certain in February, only for it to disintegrate in the final hours of the window.
Back then, Palace had agreed a £20m fee with Everton and lined McNeil up as part of a late reshaping of their attack. The plan blew up when Jean-Philippe Mateta’s proposed £30m transfer to Milan collapsed after the France striker failed a medical. With the outgoing deal gone, Palace tried to rework McNeil’s move into an initial loan with an obligation to buy at the end of the season.
They even submitted a deal sheet to the Premier League. Then they walked away.
The silence from south London infuriated McNeil’s partner, Megan Sharpley, who took to Instagram with an emotional post accusing Palace of “radio silence” and saying the episode had damaged the winger’s mental health.
“Tonight, and the last 48 hours, have broken my heart to see how the football world you love so much can be so cruel to you,” she wrote at the time, questioning how clubs could “mess and toy with” players’ mental health simply because of their salaries.
Now Palace have come back, this time with a clean swap and a clear path to completion.
Johnson era ends quickly at Selhurst Park
For Johnson, the move brings a swift end to a short and stuttering spell in south London.
Signed from Tottenham in January for £35m, he arrived as Palace’s record transfer before that benchmark was quickly overtaken by the £43m capture of Jørgen Strand Larsen from Wolves. The fee, the fanfare, the contract – everything pointed to a long-term pillar of the club’s attack.
The output never followed.
Johnson failed to score in 18 Premier League appearances and struggled to impose himself in a Palace side that needed immediate end product. With a lucrative four-and-a-half-year contract believed to be worth more than £100,000 a week, he became an expensive problem on a wage bill already under pressure.
Palace will take a sizeable hit on the fee they paid. The swap at least removes one of their top earners and opens space for a winger better suited to the manager’s demands.
Everton, meanwhile, bank a 23-year-old forward with pace and resale potential in exchange for a player entering the final year of his deal. For a club constantly juggling financial constraints, that calculation carries obvious appeal.
Khalaili set to follow as Palace reshape the flanks
The changes on the wings at Selhurst Park will not stop with McNeil.
Palace are also closing in on the signing of Anan Khalaili from Union Saint-Gilloise in a £21m deal. The Israel right-back underwent his medical on Sunday and is expected to sign a five-year contract.
Khalaili, 21, had been on the verge of joining Internazionale last month, only for that move to fall through when he failed a medical. Palace have stepped in, betting on his long-term fitness and upside at a time when they are clearly determined to refresh both full-back and wide attacking areas.
Within a few days, Palace could have McNeil on one flank, Khalaili charging from deep on the other side and Johnson off the books. Everton, for their part, will hope Johnson finds the form that once persuaded Tottenham – and then Palace – to spend big.
For two clubs fighting to stay ahead of the financial and footballing squeeze of the Premier League, this swap is more than a neat piece of symmetry. It is a gamble on fit, timing and psychology. Which winger will make it look like a masterstroke?
