Premier League Transfers: Palace and Everton Swap Wingers

The Premier League’s unofficial “swap shop” is open again.

Crystal Palace and Everton have effectively traded wingers, with Dwight McNeil heading to Selhurst Park on a four-year deal and Brennan Johnson moving the other way to Goodison Park on the same terms. No fanfare about a formal swap, no grand declarations – just two clubs leaning into a tradition that has quietly shaped the league for three decades.

This kind of move is woven into Premier League history. Ashley Cole to Chelsea, William Gallas to Arsenal in 2006. Andrew Cole leaving title-chasing Newcastle United for Manchester United in the mid-1990s, Keith Gillespie taking the reverse path. Alexis Sanchez and Henrikh Mkhitaryan switching between Arsenal and Manchester United in 2018. Sometimes there’s a fee on top, sometimes not, but the pattern is familiar: two clubs, one problem each, one solution for both.

Now it’s Palace and Everton’s turn to gamble that a change of scenery will unlock something more.

Liverpool bet on LaLiga’s aerial enforcer

At Anfield, the rebuild of Liverpool’s back line has taken a very clear shape: height, aggression, and calm on the ball.

Ronald Araujo arrives on loan from Barcelona with numbers that jump off the page. At 6ft 2in, the centre-back dominated the skies in LaLiga last season, contesting 4.92 aerial duels per 90 minutes and winning 3.31 of them. Only three players in the division posted a better success rate than his 92 per cent.

He is not just a stopper. Opta data shows Araujo averaged 71 open-play passes every 90 minutes in the league, completing 92 per cent of them – the fourth-best figure at Barcelona. He can start attacks as well as end them.

The context matters. He is effectively stepping into the space vacated by Ibrahim Konate, who has joined Real Madrid. On pure aerial volume, Konate still edges him: 5.1 duels contested and 3.6 won per 90. The Frenchman also led in several other defensive and distribution metrics, including total passes, successful passes, tackles and possession won.

Liverpool are not trying to clone Konate, though. They are trying to re-balance a defence. Araujo brings authority in the air, composure in possession and the experience of life under the pressure cooker at Barcelona. That combination is why Anfield moved.

Fulham’s quiet coup: Charles and Bobb back together

Down by the Thames, Fulham have gone for chemistry as much as talent.

Shea Charles has signed from Southampton, reuniting with former Manchester City academy colleague Oscar Bobb. The two grew up together in City’s youth ranks, pulling the strings in midfield and out wide as they won back-to-back Premier League 2 titles.

Charles is a manager’s dream profile: a central midfielder who can also slot in at centre-back and right-back. Pep Guardiola saw enough to hand him a Premier League debut in May 2023 against Brentford, later describing him as “so composed” – high praise from a coach who demands control in every phase.

His path since has been relentless rather than glamorous. A move to Southampton, a key role in a side that won promotion to the Premier League via the playoffs, then a loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday where he was named Player of the Year and shortlisted for the EFL Championship’s Young Player of the Year.

Last season, he helped Southampton reach both the EFL playoff semi-finals and the FA Cup semi-final, where they fell narrowly 2-1 to Manchester City. Now he joins a Fulham squad that already knows how Bobb plays and what Charles brings. The reunion is not sentimental; it’s strategic.

Europe’s big guns circle Bouaddi – with City in front

Ayyoub Bouaddi is 18, but his CV reads like someone ten years older.

Lille threw him into senior football at 16. He responded by tearing up their record books: youngest player to appear for the club, youngest to play in Europe. In January he hit 50 appearances for Lille, becoming the youngest to reach that mark and overtaking none other than Eden Hazard.

The leap from club prodigy to global prospect came in Morocco colours. At the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Bouaddi helped his country reach the quarter-finals and became the first player to make five World Cup appearances as a teenager for an African nation. That kind of exposure turns quiet interest into a queue.

Multiple reports now place Manchester City at the front of that line. They have already brought in one central midfielder this summer in Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest. Bouaddi would be the second – and the long-term project.

The demand is real, the race is live, and the next decision he makes will define the next five years of his career.

Maresca’s dream five-a-side: Buffon, Zidane, Del Piero… and himself

Ask a manager to pick a fantasy five-a-side team and you usually get a polite list. Enzo Maresca delivered something far more revealing.

The Manchester City boss dipped into his playing days and came back with a side that would terrify any training pitch. In goal, Gianluigi Buffon – 10 Serie A titles, a 2006 World Cup, and a career that redefined longevity between the posts. Maresca called him “one of the best goalkeepers in the world for many years”, which feels almost understated.

In midfield, Zinedine Zidane. The France and Real Madrid great, whom Maresca remembered as “so elegant in the games but also every day in each session”. Up front, Alessandro Del Piero, described as an “artist, magic, good guy” – the kind of forward who could embarrass you with a touch and then beat you with a finish.

Ciro Ferrara, the rugged defender and another former Juventus team-mate, locks down the back. For the fifth spot, Maresca went with a name he knows better than anyone: his own.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard of him!” he joked. “He was just a normal player but he would enjoy to play with these kinds of players.” Self-deprecating, yes. But also a reminder: he shared dressing rooms with some of the game’s giants. Now he manages some of its future ones.

Burgers, moustaches and Senegal: Stach’s off-field assist

Not every story is about transfers and tactics. Sometimes it’s about a burger.

Leeds United midfielder Anton Stach has teamed up with local burger joint Meat:Stack to launch a charity burger in his name – the Anton Stach Moustachi cheeseburger. The concept is simple: he designed it, fans eat it, and £2 from every sale goes to the Elhadj Diouf Foundation.

For Stach, it is personal. Speaking to Leeds Live, he explained that he has been involved with the foundation “for many years already”, highlighting its work supporting children in Senegal through education. The charity has already helped build a school and a hospital, with more projects in mind.

“They of course need money and to let it grow and be there,” he said. “So I think it's a very nice opportunity also for people when they buy a burger that you have good food and you do something good for the world.”

One midfielder, one local business, one community. On a different kind of pitch, Stach has found another way to make an impact.