Brennan Johnson Joins Everton in Shock Swap Deal with Dwight McNeil
Brennan Johnson has completed a four-year move to Everton, ending a short and bruising stint at Crystal Palace and triggering one of the Premier League’s rarer sights: a straight swap deal. Dwight McNeil heads the other way to Selhurst Park, two wingers trading places after seasons that left both with more questions than answers.
Palace had paid a reported club-record £35 million to prise Johnson from Tottenham just eight months ago. They never saw a return on that investment. The Wales international failed to score in 26 appearances in all competitions in south London, his confidence seemingly draining with every goalless outing.
McNeil’s year at Everton hardly looked any brighter. Once tipped as a star-in-waiting at Burnley, the 26-year-old also finished the campaign without a goal, drawing a blank in 25 games for the Toffees as his form stalled badly.
Those numbers became ammunition on live radio.
On talkSPORT, former Tottenham midfielder Jamie O’Hara and ex-Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor tore into the pair’s output while reacting to the shock swap.
“I like Dwight McNeil,” O’Hara said. “Brennan Johnson has been a myth for a few seasons. He didn’t do it at Spurs. He hides in games.”
Agbonlahor went straight to the stats, underlining just how little end product either winger had offered last season. “You look at their output last season,” he said, pointing to the lack of goals and assists. “It’s a bit like ‘you give us him and we’ll give you him!’”
The tone only got harsher. As the segment wound up, O’Hara delivered the line that lit up social media: “We’ll give you crap, we’ll give you crap back!”
The clip hit Instagram and Johnson didn’t stay silent. He dropped a cold, eight-word reply in the comments: “Won more than both of these put together.”
That response went viral in its own right, dragging O’Hara back into the debate. On Wednesday morning he moved to clarify his stance on X, insisting the short clip stripped away the nuance of the full conversation.
“This [is] the [problem] when you only listen to a clip and not full story,” he wrote. “We were talking about Brennan and McNeil’s stats from last season which were CRAP not that they were bad players. I’m a fan of McNeill and also said Brennan has all the attributes but he would admit his season was crap.”
Noise off the pitch will now give way to expectation on it. Johnson arrives at Hill Dickinson Stadium with a point to prove, a 25-year-old forward who knows his numbers must change quickly under David Moyes if he is to shake off accusations of being all promise and little punch.
McNeil, meanwhile, gets the reset he has badly needed. A move to Selhurst Park offers a new dressing room, a new manager and the chance to rediscover the sharp, incisive wide play that once made him one of the most talked-about young wingers in the league.
They will not have long to show their former clubs what they are missing. Everton and Crystal Palace meet on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season, an immediate reunion that gives both Johnson and McNeil the stage to answer their critics the only way that really matters: on the pitch.
