Everton and Crystal Palace Complete Dwight McNeil-Brennan Johnson Swap

Everton and Crystal Palace have shaken hands on one of the more intriguing deals of the summer: a straight swap of Dwight McNeil for Brennan Johnson, with both players now heading for medicals and four-year contracts on the table.

No add-ons. No drawn-out auction. Just two clubs admitting something isn’t working and backing a reset.

A move that’s been coming

For McNeil, this has felt inevitable for some time.

The winger was inches away from joining Palace in January, only for the move to collapse in the final hours when the paperwork didn’t land in time. Since then, his status at Everton has quietly shifted. Under David Moyes, the 26-year-old has gone from key outlet to expendable asset, his influence fading as the manager reshaped the side.

With only a year left on his contract, Everton were staring at a familiar Premier League problem: keep a player you’re no longer building around and risk losing him for nothing, or cash in while you still can. They’ve chosen a third way — trade him.

Palace, for their part, have simply gone back for the player they almost had. The admiration never really went away; they just had to wait six months and change the terms.

Johnson’s Selhurst struggle

If McNeil’s situation was about timing and contracts, Brennan Johnson’s was about output.

Signed by Palace only last January for £35 million, the Wales international arrived with a reputation as a livewire forward who could stretch defences and score goals. His record backed it up: 27 goals in 107 games for Tottenham, and strong spells before that at Nottingham Forest.

At Selhurst Park, though, the spark never caught.

Johnson finished last season without a single goal in 26 appearances across all competitions. For a player on big money and brought in to make the difference in the final third, that kind of return leaves a mark. Confidence dipped, the crowd grew restless, and what was meant to be a flagship signing slowly turned into a financial headache.

Palace have chosen not to double down. They’ve chosen to cut cleanly.

Wages, risk and reward

This is where the deal becomes as much about balance sheets as tactics.

Johnson is on £130,000 per week at Palace, a wage that sat heavily on the club’s structure once his form nosedived. Moving him on in a traditional sale would have meant finding a buyer willing to match that salary and pay a fee on top. Not easy after a goalless season.

The swap with Everton solves that problem in one move. Palace get McNeil, a player they know well and have tracked for months, and they clear a major earner from the books. The wage bill breathes again.

Everton, by contrast, are leaning into the risk. If they agree to match Johnson’s current salary — which has not yet been confirmed — he will instantly become one of the highest earners at Hill Dickinson Stadium. That only makes sense if they believe Moyes can drag the Tottenham version of Johnson back to the surface, not the Palace one.

They clearly do.

Johnson has already shown what he can be when it clicks. He hit 18 goals in all competitions for Spurs in the 2024/25 campaign, a reminder that his Palace struggles are not the full story. Everton are effectively betting that a change of system, a different dressing room and a manager with a track record of reviving careers can unlock that player again.

If they’re right, they’ve turned an expiring contract in McNeil into a prime-age forward with proven Premier League numbers.

If they’re wrong, they’ve loaded a big wage onto a squad that can’t afford many mistakes.

Why it suits both clubs

Strip it back, and the logic is clear on both sides.

Everton avoid losing McNeil for free next summer and land a long-term attacking option they’ve tracked for years. The club’s recruitment department has changed faces, but the interest in Johnson has survived those internal shifts. That says something about how highly they rate his ceiling.

Palace, meanwhile, finally land the wide player they tried to sign in January and move on from an expensive misfire without the mess of a protracted sale. They also gain a more natural fit for their flank options, with McNeil offering work rate, delivery and reliability in a role they’ve been keen to strengthen.

Both players are now expected to sign four-year deals, each including a club option for a further 12 months. It’s a long commitment, not a short-term patch.

Now it comes down to what happens next: can Johnson turn that Everton gamble into a bargain, and can McNeil become the player Palace were willing to wait for?