Everton and Crystal Palace Swap: McNeil for Johnson
Everton and Crystal Palace have shaken hands on one of the more intriguing deals of the window: a straight swap of Dwight McNeil for Brennan Johnson, with both players now heading for medicals and four-year contracts on opposite sides of the deal.
No add-ons. No drawn-out auction. Just two clubs deciding it’s time for a reset.
McNeil finally gets his Palace move
For McNeil, this has been a long time coming. Palace tried to prise him away in January, only for the move to collapse on deadline day when the paperwork didn’t land in time. Now, with a year left on his Everton contract and his influence fading under David Moyes, the door has opened again — and this time it’s staying open.
The 26-year-old has had stretches where he felt indispensable at Everton, driving them forward from wide areas and carrying a heavy creative burden. But Moyes has gradually moved in a different direction, and with the club unwilling to risk losing him for nothing next summer, the logic is ruthless but clear: cash in now, or watch an asset walk away.
Palace, for their part, are finally getting the wide player they earmarked months ago. This isn’t a speculative punt; it’s a target they nearly landed once already.
Johnson’s Selhurst struggle prompts reset
On the other side of the deal, Brennan Johnson leaves Selhurst Park after a bruising spell. Signed only last January for £35 million, the Wales international arrived with a reputation as a lively, direct forward who could stretch defences and chip in with goals.
The goals never came.
Johnson failed to score in 26 appearances in all competitions for Palace last season, a barren run that weighed heavier with every game. The numbers don’t flatter him, and they don’t lie. Yet his broader body of work still carries weight: 27 goals in 107 matches for Tottenham, including 18 in all competitions in the 2024/25 campaign, underline that there is a player there when the conditions suit.
Palace have decided those conditions won’t be found in south London. Everton are convinced they can provide them on Merseyside.
Wages, risk and reward
This is not just a football decision for Palace. It’s a financial one. Johnson earns £130,000 per week, a sizeable chunk of their wage bill. Moving him on in a traditional sale would have meant finding a buyer prepared to match that salary and pay a fee on top. That market never really materialised.
The swap solves several problems at once. Palace offload a high earner who has struggled to settle, bring in a player they know well and rate highly, and avoid a messy, protracted sale process. McNeil arrives as a ready-made replacement, with the added benefit that his wages will sit at a more manageable level than Johnson’s outgoing deal.
Everton, by contrast, are leaning into the risk. If they do agree to match Johnson’s Palace wages — a detail not yet confirmed — he will become one of the highest-paid players at Hill Dickinson Stadium. That is a statement of faith as much as it is a financial commitment.
The bet is simple: that Moyes, with his track record of organising and revitalising forwards, can drag Johnson back to the levels he showed at Tottenham and Nottingham Forest.
Why it suits Everton
Strip it back and Everton’s logic is hard to argue with. Keeping McNeil for the final year of his contract would have meant losing him for free in 12 months’ time or entering another fraught negotiation with little leverage. Instead, they flip a diminishing asset into a 25-year-old forward with Premier League pedigree and room to grow.
Everton have tracked Johnson for years. Recruitment teams have changed, managers have come and gone, but the interest has endured. That kind of long-term admiration matters; it suggests this isn’t a panic move born out of a quiet window, but a calculated attempt to bring in a player they’ve believed in for some time.
If Johnson even gets close to replicating that 18-goal haul from his last full season at Spurs, Everton will have landed a forward capable of changing the shape of their attack — and, potentially, their season.
Palace’s clean break
For Palace, this is a reset disguised as a swap.
They cut loose a player who never found rhythm, free up a major wage slot, and finally secure McNeil, whose profile fits their wide areas neatly. A left-footed option with Premier League experience, strong work rate and a proven engine, he offers a more reliable output than Johnson has managed in south London.
There is also an element of dressing-room clarity here. Johnson wanted a new challenge, his form had dipped, and the club needed to move on from an expensive misfire. The swap allows everyone to walk away without the stigma of a cut-price sale.
Both McNeil and Johnson are expected to sign four-year deals with an option for a further 12 months. That gives each club long-term control and time to shape their new arrivals into central figures rather than short-term fixes.
Two careers at a crossroads. Two clubs trying to outsmart the market. One unusual deal that might just define how ambitious — or how desperate — this window really was when we look back at it in May.
