Brennan Johnson to Everton: Straight Swap Deal with Crystal Palace

Everton are closing in on their most eye-catching move of the summer, with Brennan Johnson due on Merseyside today to undergo a medical ahead of a swap deal that will send Dwight McNeil to Crystal Palace.

No add‑ons. No complicated clauses. Just a straight trade between two Premier League clubs who have been circling each other over these players for months.

Straight swap, long chase

Palace have tracked McNeil for a long time. A January move to Selhurst Park collapsed on deadline day, leaving the winger to see out the season at Goodison Park and the Eagles to bide their time.

That patience is about to be rewarded. An agreement is in place for McNeil to head south while Johnson, who joined Palace from Tottenham Hotspur for around £35m in January, moves to Everton. Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano has reported that “everything is done” between the clubs, with both players scheduled for medicals today.

If there are no late hitches, Johnson will become Everton’s fifth signing of the window, following Hayden Hackney, Christian Nørgaard and the permanent captures of Merlin Röhl and Tyrique George. It is a clear attempt to reshape the spine and the cutting edge of Sean Dyche’s squad in one sweep.

A reset after a bruising spell

For Johnson, this is a reset. His half-season at Palace never caught fire in the way either party expected when he arrived for a sizeable fee in January. The move now offers him a clean break and a prominent role at a club desperate for pace and end product in wide areas.

Everton are betting that the player they are getting is the one who lit up Tottenham’s 2024/25 campaign, not the one who laboured through a difficult spell at Selhurst Park.

At Spurs that season, Johnson delivered numbers that command attention: 18 goals in 51 appearances across all competitions, with 11 of those strikes coming in 33 Premier League games. Those are not the figures of a fringe option; they are the return of a winger who consistently attacked space, arrived in the box and finished with conviction.

Elite underlying numbers

The goals only tell part of the story. Under the surface, Johnson’s data from that 2024/25 campaign placed him among the Premier League’s most dangerous wide forwards.

Per 90 minutes, the Wales international ranked second among wingers for expected goals and non‑penalty expected goals, a sign that his chances were no accident. He also sat second for dribble success percentage and duels won percentage, underlining both his ability to beat a man and his willingness to compete physically. On top of that, he ranked fifth for goal conversion.

Those metrics are exactly what Everton have been short of: direct running, repeatable chance quality, and a wide player who turns territory into shots and shots into goals.

Everton’s gamble – and opportunity

Everton lose McNeil, a diligent and reliable outlet, but gain a winger with a higher ceiling in pure attacking threat. In a market where cash is tight and prices remain inflated, a straight swap for a player with Johnson’s statistical profile is a bold, calculated play.

The club will hope Goodison Park, with its appetite for hard-running forwards and its demand for intensity, proves the right stage for Johnson to rediscover his Tottenham level. If he does, this deal could look less like a trade and more like a coup.

Today’s medical is the next step. The real judgment will come when Johnson pulls on the shirt and those numbers from North London are tested against the expectations of the Gwladys Street.