Crystal Palace and Everton Complete Johnson–McNeil Swap Deal
Crystal Palace and Everton have agreed a straight swap deal involving Brennan Johnson and Dwight McNeil, sealing a move that comes with heavy footballing logic and a fair dose of emotional baggage.
Six months ago, McNeil looked destined for Selhurst Park. Now, after a failed move that his partner said had “messed with the winger’s mental health”, he is finally on his way to south London – just as Johnson prepares to head in the opposite direction.
Both players are understood to have agreed four-year contracts with an option for a further 12 months. Medicals are scheduled for Monday.
A Deal Revisited
McNeil is entering the final year of his Everton contract. Back in February, Palace agreed a £20m fee for the winger on deadline day, only for the transfer to unravel in the final hours.
The trigger was elsewhere. Jean-Philippe Mateta’s proposed £30m move to Milan collapsed when the France striker failed a medical. With that sale off the table, Palace changed their stance on McNeil, shifting from a permanent £20m deal to an initial loan with an obligation to buy at the end of the season.
Paperwork even reached the Premier League in the form of a deal sheet. Then Palace walked away.
The silence that followed was anything but routine. McNeil’s partner, Megan Sharpley, posted an emotional message on Instagram, accusing Palace of “radio silence” and describing the impact on the player.
“Tonight, and the last 48 hours, have broken my heart to see how the football world you love so much can be so cruel to you,” she wrote, highlighting the wider conversation around mental health in football and questioning why it is “acceptable” to “mess and toy” with players’ wellbeing because of their salaries.
Now, with a year left on his Everton deal and that episode still fresh, McNeil finally gets the move that slipped away in February – but on very different terms and in a very different context.
Johnson’s Short, Costly Spell at Palace
For Johnson, the swap draws a line under a brief and bruising stint at Selhurst Park.
He arrived in January from Tottenham as Palace’s record signing at £35m, only to see that benchmark quickly overtaken by the £43m capture of Jørgen Strand Larsen from Wolves. The price tag, and the wages that came with it, brought immediate scrutiny.
On the pitch, the return never came. Johnson failed to score in 18 Premier League appearances and struggled to impose himself in a side evolving under significant attacking investment.
Palace handed him a four-and-a-half-year contract believed to be worth more than £100,000 a week. Offloading him now means taking a substantial hit on the fee they paid, but it also removes one of the club’s highest earners from the wage bill and resets a misjudged piece of business before it drifts into long-term regret.
For Everton, Johnson represents upside: a 23-year-old forward with pace and potential, arriving without a transfer fee attached, in exchange for a player approaching the end of his contract.
Palace Keep Spending: Khalaili Incoming
The churn at Palace does not stop with the Johnson–McNeil swap.
The club are also set to finalise a £21m move for Anan Khalaili from Union Saint-Gilloise. The Israel right-back completed his medical on Sunday and is expected to sign a five-year contract in south London.
Khalaili, 21, saw a transfer to Internazionale collapse last month after he failed a medical. Palace have stepped into that gap, betting on his long-term value and adding yet another young piece to a squad being aggressively reshaped.
From a collapsed deal that sparked a public row over mental health to a straight swap that suits both wage structures, Palace and Everton have turned a messy winter saga into a decisive summer reset. The question now is simple: who makes the most of their second chance?
