Brennan Johnson Joins Everton: A New Era for the Forward

Brennan Johnson has barely walked through the doors at Everton, but some who know him well are already convinced he is built for this stage – and for David Moyes.

The Wales forward has signed a four-year deal at Hill Dickinson Stadium, arriving from Crystal Palace in a swap that sent Dwight McNeil to Selhurst Park. It is a bold, modern trade: a wide man much loved on Merseyside leaving, a versatile, high-ceiling attacker coming in. For a fanbase starved of goals and silverware, it feels like a roll of the dice with intent.

Lee Trundle, who watched Johnson’s rise with interest and knows the demands of British football’s hard yards from his own spells at Wrexham, Swansea City, Bristol City and Leeds United, is in no doubt about the fit.

“With Johnson coming in, I think that's a great signing and he's someone I'm excited about,” he said on the BBC’s Feast of Football podcast. “I think Moyes will get the best out of him, I think Moyes is a good manager for him.”

Trundle is not just speaking as an ex-pro. He is an Everton supporter who understands the temperature of the blue half of Merseyside, the way a new forward can be either embraced or devoured.

“I think he'll go in, and once he starts scoring, I think the fans will take to him,” he said. “I think he'll love being at a club like Everton because once you get in and score those goals, the fans will idolise you, especially because that's what they've been crying out for.”

That last line cuts to the heart of it. Everton create, but they do not kill teams off. Under a succession of managers, they have fashioned chances and then watched them disappear into the ether. Beto and Thierno Barry, the current first-choice pairing, have shown flashes but not the ruthless edge a club of Everton’s size expects.

Trundle looks at Johnson and sees a solution through the middle, not just another body out wide.

“If you look at Everton, they create a lot of chances, they just don't take the chances,” he said. “I think if he's in those positions to get those chances, he takes more of them.”

Johnson’s career so far suggests he will not be short of roles. He has played on the wing, as a wing-back and as a striker. Managers have trusted his work-rate, his movement, his ability to stretch defences. That versatility helped him burst through at Nottingham Forest, where he was a key part of Steve Cooper’s promotion-winning side in 2021-22, and it followed him to Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace.

Trundle, though, can see Moyes stripping away the experiments and handing Johnson a clear brief as a number nine.

“He will go in behind, he'll score goals himself and create himself as well,” he added.

That willingness to run beyond, to live on the shoulder, is exactly what Everton have lacked in recent years. Too often their attacks have stalled in front of packed defences, the ball shuffled from side to side without anyone daring to dart into the space behind. Johnson offers that menace. For Moyes, who has built his best teams on organisation and direct, incisive attacking, it is an enticing weapon.

The 25-year-old also arrives with something Everton’s squad has not seen for a generation: recent European medals. He lifted the Europa League with Spurs, scoring the winner against Manchester United in the final, and added the Conference League trophy with Palace last season. Those are not small moments. They are nights that shape a player’s mentality, that teach him how to handle pressure and deliver when it matters.

Everton, by contrast, are staring at a 31-year trophy drought. The club still carries the weight and expectation of its history, but the cabinet has not opened for more than three decades. That gap feeds into the mood in the stands, and Nathan Blake, another former Wales striker, believes Johnson will feel that from day one.

“Everton fans are demanding,” Blake said. “Whether you like it or not, it doesn't matter if you haven't won a trophy for a long time, that's a big club. I think there'll be more demand on him there.”

Blake’s warning is stark. The forward who joined Palace for a then club-record fee in January will not be given unlimited time to adjust on Merseyside.

“Having Moyes and [assistant manager Billy] McKinlay could be a good thing, but if he doesn't produce in the first 10 to 15 games, it catches up with you,” Blake said. “The coaching and the experience of Moyes and his backroom staff, they'll coach him to improve.”

That is the balance Johnson walks into: opportunity and pressure, side by side. He has a manager renowned for drilling discipline and squeezing output from his forwards, an assistant in McKinlay who knows the demands of British football inside out, and a fanbase desperate for a hero at the top end of the pitch.

Everton have given him four years. The reality, as Blake hints, is that the judgement will start long before that. By the time those first 10 to 15 games are done, the Hill Dickinson crowd will have made up their minds: is Brennan Johnson the ruthless finisher they have been crying out for, or just the next name in a long list of almosts?