Everton and Crystal Palace Swap: McNeil for Johnson
Everton and Crystal Palace have shaken hands on one of the more intriguing deals of the summer: a straight swap of Dwight McNeil and Brennan Johnson, with both players now heading for medicals and four-year contracts on opposite sides of the country.
No add-ons, no drawn-out auction. Just two clubs, two wingers, and a shared belief that a change of scenery might unlock something that’s gone missing.
McNeil finally gets his Palace move
For McNeil, this has been a long time coming. Palace pushed hard for him in January, only for the move to collapse in the most frustrating way possible – paperwork not filed in time on deadline day. The winger stayed put, the window slammed shut, and the chance evaporated in a blur of emails and missed deadlines.
Now the deal is back on, and this time the clock hasn’t beaten anyone.
At 26, McNeil has already lived a couple of lives at Everton. There were stretches when he felt indispensable, a reliable outlet and a tireless worker down the flank. But under David Moyes his influence has faded. His minutes, and his status, have shrunk.
With just a year left on his contract, Everton could read the writing on the wall. Keep him and risk losing him for nothing next summer, or move him on while there’s still value. They chose the latter, and found a solution that also ticks a long-standing box on their recruitment list.
Johnson gets his reset on Merseyside
Everton have liked Brennan Johnson for a while. The Welsh international has been on their radar across different recruitment regimes, surviving the churn of backroom change and shifting strategies. That in itself says something.
His time at Crystal Palace, though, never caught fire.
Johnson arrived at Selhurst Park last January for £35million, a sizeable outlay and a clear statement of faith. The return was brutal: 26 games in all competitions, no goals. For a forward, those numbers scream struggle.
Yet his broader record offers a different picture. Before Palace, Johnson had shown he could hurt teams. He scored 27 times in 107 appearances for Tottenham and hit 18 goals in all competitions for Spurs in the 2024/25 season alone. Those aren’t the numbers of a player who’s forgotten where the net is; they’re the numbers of someone who needs the right role, the right manager, the right environment.
Everton are betting that Moyes can be that manager and Goodison can be that environment.
If, as expected, Johnson signs a four-year deal with an option for a fifth, he’ll arrive not as a speculative punt, but as a central piece of Everton’s attacking rebuild. Should the club match his reported £130,000-per-week wages from Palace – a detail not yet confirmed – he would instantly become one of the highest earners at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. That is not a casual commitment. That is a club backing its judgement.
Why the swap works for both clubs
Strip away the noise and the logic is clear on both sides.
Everton avoid the nightmare scenario of losing McNeil for free in 12 months. They turn a diminishing asset into a forward they have admired for years, one with Premier League pedigree and the physical profile to thrive in Moyes’ system. They also gain a player whose best work has often come in direct, vertical football – the kind of style Everton will lean on as they try to punch above their financial weight.
Palace, meanwhile, tidy up a problem that has been looming since Johnson’s move stalled on the pitch. A high earner, out of form, and clearly in need of a reset. Rather than haggle through a traditional sale, they move him on in a clean swap and bring in a winger they already know fits their plans.
McNeil’s wages will sit below Johnson’s hefty £130,000 per week, easing the pressure on Palace’s wage bill and giving them more room to manoeuvre elsewhere in the squad. They also finally land the player they almost had in January, this time without the drama of a deadline-day collapse.
It is not often a swap deal feels this balanced. One club trades a creator who had lost his place; the other moves on a forward whose confidence has been drained. Both clubs receive players whose profiles they have studied for years, not weeks.
A gamble Everton are willing to take
There is risk, of course. Everton are taking on a big salary and a player coming off a goal-less season. Palace are parting with a forward who, if he catches fire again, could look underpriced even in a straight swap.
But Everton know exactly what they’re buying. Johnson has already shown at Tottenham and Nottingham Forest that he can deliver double figures from wide or central roles. If he gets anywhere near the 18 goals he produced for Spurs in 2024/25, this deal will look like one of the smartest pieces of business of the window.
For Palace, the calculation is different but no less clear. Johnson wanted a new challenge, his form had dipped, and his wages were heavy. In McNeil, they gain a left-footed wide player with Premier League experience, strong work rate and a point to prove after slipping down the pecking order under Moyes.
Both players now head for their medicals, both expected to sign four-year contracts with an option for a further 12 months. Two careers, nudged off course in different ways, now hinge on fresh starts.
The question is simple: who makes the most of it?
