Crystal Palace and Everton Finalize Johnson–McNeil Swap Deal

Crystal Palace and Everton have agreed a straight swap deal involving Brennan Johnson and Dwight McNeil, drawing a dramatic line under a transfer story that has simmered for six months and spilled into the public arena.

No fees, no add‑ons. Just two wingers, changing shirts and starting again.

Both players are understood to have agreed four-year contracts with an option for a further 12 months, with medicals scheduled for Monday. For Palace, it means cutting loose a record signing who never caught fire. For Everton, it means finally cashing in on a player they almost lost in February – only for the deal to collapse in acrimony.

A move that fell apart – and went public

McNeil, now into the final year of his Everton contract, looked certain to join Palace on deadline day in February. A £20m fee had been agreed, the winger was ready to move, and Selhurst Park seemed set to be his new home.

Then the dominoes stopped falling.

Jean-Philippe Mateta’s proposed £30m transfer to Milan collapsed when the French striker failed a medical. With that, Palace’s finances and priorities shifted. Their firm £20m bid for McNeil turned into an initial loan with an obligation to buy at the end of the season. A deal sheet went into the Premier League. Palace then walked away.

Silence followed – and it was that silence which detonated the story.

McNeil’s partner, Megan Sharpley, took to Instagram with an emotional post accusing Palace of “messing with the winger’s mental health” and describing “radio silence” from the club. She wrote of her heartbreak at how “the football world you love so much can be so cruel to you”, questioning why mental health is treated as expendable just because players earn substantial wages.

It was an unusually raw glimpse into the human cost of transfer brinkmanship. Palace, stung by the criticism and with their season still in full swing, moved on. McNeil stayed at Everton, his future unresolved and his contract running down.

Now, the same club that walked away in February is bringing him in on a permanent deal, this time with no chain reaction to depend on.

Johnson’s short and stuttering Palace spell

For Johnson, the move marks the end of a brief, bruising chapter in south London.

Signed from Tottenham in January for £35m, he arrived as Palace’s record signing – a statement deal for a club trying to sharpen its attacking edge. Within weeks, that record was overtaken by the £43m arrival of Jørgen Strand Larsen from Wolves, but the expectation on Johnson remained.

The return never did.

Eighteen Premier League appearances. No goals. A player on a lucrative four-and-a-half-year contract, believed to be worth more than £100,000 a week, struggling to justify either the outlay or the wage packet.

Palace will take a substantial hit on the fee they paid. They will, however, clear one of their biggest earners from the wage bill and bring in a proven Premier League winger in McNeil, whose work rate and delivery should fit neatly into their wide areas.

For Everton, Johnson offers something different: a reset for a player still young enough to recover his trajectory, and a way to avoid losing McNeil for a cut-price fee or for nothing down the line.

Palace keep reshaping – Khalaili next

The swap is not the only piece of business Palace are closing.

They are also set to finalise a £21m move for Anan Khalaili from Union Saint-Gilloise. The Israel right-back underwent his medical on Sunday and is expected to sign a five-year contract, another long-term investment in a squad being aggressively reshaped.

Khalaili’s transfer to Internazionale fell through last month after he failed a medical, but Palace have pushed ahead with their own checks and are prepared to back their judgement.

So Palace move into the new season with a rebuilt wage structure, a refreshed right flank and a winger they once left in limbo now finally walking through the Selhurst Park doors.

The question now is simple: will this second attempt at signing Dwight McNeil deliver the payoff that the first, chaotic one never got close to providing?