Brennan Johnson and Dwight McNeil Swap: A Fresh Start for Both Wingers
Everton and Crystal Palace have traded wide men and traded stories, too.
Brennan Johnson is now in royal blue, Dwight McNeil in south London red and blue, in a swap deal that suits two managers with very different problems but a shared need for fresh impetus out wide.
Both players sign four-year contracts. Both arrive with something to prove.
Johnson’s reset under Moyes
For Johnson, this is a restart. Again.
He joined Crystal Palace only in January, a £35m signing from Tottenham, and leaves after 26 appearances without a goal. No great fallout, no public drama – just a move that never quite caught fire.
Everton, and David Moyes, are betting that the player who once looked electric in the Premier League is still there.
“I’m so excited to be here,” Johnson said, the relief almost as clear as the ambition. He called Everton “a massive club” and talked about fit: the manager, the squad, the direction of travel. It sounded like a player who wanted to be wanted.
The key line came when he spoke about Moyes. The Scot has told him to get back to the form he’s shown before, and Johnson clearly clings to that belief.
“The fact he knows and believes in what I can do… it was really nice to hear,” he said. For a winger whose confidence has been eroded by a flat spell at Palace, that matters as much as any tactical briefing.
Johnson, 25, becomes Everton’s fifth signing of the summer, after Merlin Röhl’s loan was converted into a permanent deal and Hayden Hackney, Tyrique George and Christian Nørgaard also arrived. Moyes has not ripped up his squad, but he has quietly rebuilt the middle and the flanks with younger legs and sharper energy.
Johnson knows what is expected. Work first, flair second.
“I want to bring all of my attributes. First and foremost, I’ll work for the team, the fans, and represent the club properly,” he said. “On top of that, I think I can bring speed, goals and everything I’ve got.”
The reference to the Everton support was not a throwaway line. He has felt the noise from the other side before.
“The incredible fanbase that Everton has, whether it’s home or away, is something I’ve always felt. It’s a massive honour to be here and play for them now.”
For a player whose Palace spell drifted, Goodison Park will not allow anonymity. That might be exactly what he needs.
McNeil’s unfinished Palace story
If Johnson’s move is about reviving a stalled chapter, McNeil’s is about finally starting one that should have been written in January.
Back then, he agreed to join Palace, completed a medical, and waited for the final green light. It never came. Paperwork issues on Deadline Day killed the deal at the last moment, and the fallout was raw.
His partner, Megan Sharpley, publicly criticised how the saga was handled, saying the collapse had hit McNeil’s mental health and left her “questioning the industry”. She asked why it was seen as acceptable to “mess and toy” with players’ mental wellbeing just because they earn good money, and demanded respect and fairness.
Those words hung over any future negotiations. Palace could not ignore them. They didn’t.
Chairman Steve Parish is understood to have held direct talks with McNeil and Sharpley before this deal was agreed, clearing the air and addressing the hurt from that chaotic night in January. Only then could Palace move.
Now, they finally have their man.
McNeil, 26, leaves Everton after 130 appearances, 15 goals and 18 assists – a steady, often underappreciated presence in a side that has lurched from crisis to crisis. He arrives at Selhurst Park as a proven Premier League wide player, comfortable working hard without the ball and delivering from the left.
“I’m really happy to be here, and looking forward to the challenge ahead,” he said after signing. He referenced the “great success” Palace have enjoyed over the last two seasons and made it clear he wants in on that momentum.
He joins defenders Oscar Mingueza and Takehiro Tomiyasu in a Palace recruitment drive that has been precise rather than flashy, offset by the big-money sale of centre-back Maxence Lacroix to Chelsea for £51m.
Two clubs, two rebuilds
Strip away the emotion and this is a very modern Premier League deal: two clubs trading assets to fit their tactical and financial jigsaws.
Everton’s summer tells its own story. Johnson arrives from Palace for an undisclosed fee, Hackney and George cost £24m each, Röhl £19m. Seamus Coleman and Idrissa Gueye are among a long list of departures. Moyes is edging the squad younger, quicker, more aggressive in transition.
Johnson fits that blueprint. He offers pace, vertical runs and the threat of goals from wide, if Everton can unlock the version of him that once looked so dangerous.
Palace’s window has been just as busy, but with a different flavour. McNeil comes in from Everton, Mingueza from Celta Vigo and Tomiyasu from Ajax, all on free transfers. Lacroix’s sale to Chelsea is the big outgoing, with Brennan Johnson now heading to Goodison and a string of younger or fringe players either sold, loaned or released.
For Palace, McNeil is more than a consolation prize after January. He is a wide player in his prime, with Premier League mileage and a point to prove to those who doubted his ceiling.
For Everton, Johnson is a reclamation project with upside, a winger whose pace and directness could change the rhythm of their attacks if he finds his stride again.
Both clubs have given their new men four years. That is a commitment, not a gamble.
Now the question is simple: which winger will make his new home feel like it was always meant to be his?
