Johnson/McNeil Swap is Pragmatism with a Side of Optimism
A trade that brings the 25-year-old former Forest winger to Bramley-Moore Dock and sends McNeil the other way makes a lot of sense, both footballing and financial, for both clubs.
We, obviously, don’t yet know the full extent of Everton’s summer 2026 transfer business and won’t until 6pm on 1st September when the window closes. For now, though, the club’s business has largely continued on the course set last summer of buying a mix of highly promising youth and more established players able to contribute meaningfully straight away.
Tyrique George (20), Merlin Röhl and Hayden Hackney (both 24) were acquired for initial combined fees of around £53m while Christian Nørgaard (32), an astute pick-up from Arsenal, took the spending to date to £60m. The baffling inability to land a right-back remains stuck in the craw of the fanbase and there may yet be a signing to set the pulses really racing before the deadline but pragmatic and unspectacular has been the order of the day thus far.
The mooted swap deal between Everton and Crystal Palace involving Brennan Johnson and Dwight McNeil is very much in line with that trend. Johnson, at one point in his career among the most exciting wide players in the country, has endured a difficult 18 months and is unlikely to be at the top of many fans’ wish list. But a trade that brings the 25-year-old to Bramley-Moore Dock and sends McNeil the other way makes a lot of sense, both footballing and financial.
McNeil, of course, came within minutes of joining the Eagles in January, only for the deal to collapse in that dead zone between the passing of the deadline and the absolute cut-off by which the final paperwork for a transfer has to be submitted to the Premier League.
For whatever reason — it was reported that there was either miscommunication or shifting stands over the agreed fee — Palace had a change of heart and McNeil, who had been eager for a fresh start having fallen down the pecking order at Everton, was forced to get his head down and try to break back into David Moyes’s team.
After giving him a month off to clear his head, Moyes, somewhat confoundingly at the time, obliged, handing him seven consecutive starts between the end of February and late April. As has been the case for so much of his time since the Scot returned to the Blues, however, Dwight struggled for consistency and, apart from a late cameo in the ill-fated final home game against Sunderland, he didn’t play again in 2025/26.
The writing has been on the wall for the 26-year-old ever since and it’s felt like a question of when, not if, he would be moved on this summer. Now, perhaps to his own surprise, it looks as though he’ll end up at Selhurst Park after all, not under Oliver Glasner but new Eagles boss, Pierre Sage.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s move to southeast London has turned into something of a nightmare. Having found himself surplus to requirements at Tottenham Hotspur, he secured what looked, at the time, like it could be the fresh start he needed with a £35m switch to Palace.
A star at Nottingham Forest where his 29 goals in 109 games put him on Everton’s radar but his valuation took him beyond then-sporting director, Kevin Thelwell’s reach, Johnson signed for Spurs for £47.5m in September 2003. There, he netted 27 times in 107 appearances in all competitions, including scoring the winner in the Europa League final last year against Manchester United.
His record at Palace, though, is sobering by comparison: 26 games, 0 goals, and when it came to the Europa Conference League Final in May, this time the winger had to watch on from the bench as an unused substitute as his team-mates beat Rayo Vallecano to lift the trophy.
Fast-forward to this month and, once again, it seems as though Johnson is looking for the exit door amid complaints over his lack of physicality and rumours of a heated bust-up with his new manager following Palace’s pre-season defeat to Bromley.
For Evertonians, who have seen a number of players come to their club down the years looking to reignite their careers and recapture former glories with mixed results, the way things ended at Tottenham and started at Crystal Palace for Johnson won’t inspire much confidence.
It’s worth remembering, however, just how important he was to Ange Postecoglu and how dysfunctional things quickly became at Spurs under Thomas Frank, a manager who presumably saw the Nottingham-born player as expendable. Glasner, meanwhile, has been building a reputation as a fairly tricky character and while he did steer the Eagles to a second major trophy last season, Palace were just never able to get it together in the Premier League. Like Everton, they failed to win any of their final seven matches.
If Johnson can find a home at Bramley-Moore Dock and Moyes can draw the best out of him, Everton would be getting a player who offers much more pace and ability with both feet than McNeil, has a willingness to make runs in behind and provides a goal threat (he was Spurs’s top scorer in all competitions with 19 in 2024/25), particularly when arriving late at the back post.
McNeil’s strengths are his vision, set-piece delivery and propensity to score spectacular goals from long range but his form has tailed off badly over the past couple of seasons and it does feel as though a new challenge would be in his best interests.
From a financial perspective, the trade with Palace also works and represents something of a win-win for both parties, although Johnson’s reported £120,000-a-week wages could have proved a bit of a stumbling block on the Blues’ end. (The suggestions are that he has reduced his salary to get the move to Merseyside over the line.)
If the deal is more than just a player swap and money ends up changing hands, the clubs can account for the transfer in ways that benefit them in terms of amortisation and the new Squad Cost Ratio rules.
On the face of it, Palace trading a player who cost them £35m just eight months ago for one valued at around £15m makes little sense, but if they peg Johnson’s move to Everton at £20m to £30m, their accounting loss is less alarming. They would also be able to jettison a £25m commitment over the next four years in wages for a player whose move to Selhurst Park simply hasn’t worked.
For Everton, the above valuation of McNeil, a £5m drop from what Palace were prepared to pay last January, represents a small accounting profit and will provide a small uplift in their own budget for the rest of the summer window.
Even if it becomes a straight swap, the ownership will have moved off the books a player going into the last year of his contract and with rapidly diminishing value for one who could command a significant fee even if the move to Bramley-Moore didn’t work out.
It’s tempting to look at the sharp decline in Brennan Johnson’s recent fortunes and feel apprehensive but there’s also something to be said for players excelling in the right environment where everything just clicks. Iliman Ndiaye, for example, made headlines at Sheffield United but flopped at Marseille before re-emerging as a star at Everton.
While Moyes has been reluctant of late to integrate his youngest players into the first-team, the Scotsman made a name for himself reviving the careers of players like Mikel Arteta and Steven Pienaar in his first spell as the Toffees’ boss. As a proven Premier League player who could offer many of the instincts and much of the movement in the box that Everton have lacked of late, Johnson could prove to be a valuable addition.
Reader Responses
Selected thoughts from readers10/08/2026 18:58:23
Johnson is a good player and has a lot of qualities that we need for a RW. He is only surplus to requirements at Palace because they already have Sarr who is in excellent form (and cover in the very talented young pair of Esse and Drakes-Thomas). Season before last Johnson hit 18 in 51 for Spurs and won a European trophy.
10/08/2026 19:07:43
It makes you wonder who's in charge of transfers down there as its very long odds on both the old and new manager being keen on a player who hasn't found any form since he was injured in Dec '24.
Dwight was a massive player for us under the Dinosaur, I'll always remember him fondly. Especially that Brighton game!
10/08/2026 19:14:55
Cant' believe this deal, it's a stonker. Spurs laid out a fortune for him 3 years ago, and he was delivering until Frank got there and messed everything up. a year ago he'd popped in 17 goals from the wing, in a crap spurs side.
That will more than do. And all we have to do is hand over McNeil?
10/08/2026 20:43:35
Straight swap is a really good deal, although we are probably adding the best part of £4m to the annual wage bill. Granted he has had a difficult 18 months but before that he was a £50m player.
It leaves us with an interesting mix of wide players, Johnson, Ndiaye, George and Dibbling. I can't see Grealish being added to that group unless we sell Ndiaye.
Just got to hope we can find a right back in the next few days!
10/08/2026 20:58:48
Losing Johnson's wages are the reason Palace are happy to do it as a swap imo.
As for the player, he looked a fantastic prospect at Forest and a bit Walcotty at Spurs. No idea what happened at Palace, but sometimes a move just doesn't work out. He seems to have been struggling for confidence when I've seen him. As with Grealish, he needs a bit of love.
He brings much needed width, pace, and he knows where the net is. Before Palace, he averaged 1 in 4.
10/08/2026 22:03:01
Hopefully this will put the Jacob Murphy rumours to bed!
Great piece of business on paper from our much criticised transfer committee, and if we can get Munoz over the line we just need another forward option,and lastly, but probably not going to happen, a left back.
11/08/2026 00:26:38
A year younger than Dwight? Check
More pacey? Check
Can play with both feet? Check
More versatile? Check (he played Centre Forward at times at Forest and Spurs)
Johnson's salary demand would be tricky to say the least (Dwight is making a little less than £50K per week and Johnson would look for an increment of his reportedly current salary of £120K per week), and my Spurs mate could testify about his "invisibility on the field" at times, but getting someone like that with all the aforementioned improvements by using an expiring contract with just a large increase on the team's weekly wages (which offset the transfer fees)? I'll just bite Palace's hands off and run right away!
Like Lyndon said, as long as both clubs agreed on the "On-Paper Valuation" that can both present a profit for us and minimise the loss for Palace on respective books, this should be a green light.
PS
A tip of the hat to Thelwell for not just spotting Johnson as a target a few years ago but also built the framework of the Iroegbunam-Dobbin Swap deal that will serve as the template for this deal.
11/08/2026 02:57:54
Hmm not sure how I feel about this deal, McNeil can pass well and has a good shot on him so we’ll miss his creativity. Would have rather sold for cash and reinvested.
I liked Johnson at Forest but his career has somewhat fell off a cliff and now he’s surplus to requirements at Palace, not sure how we will utilise his blistering pace with Moyes’ system as Johnson prefers counter attacking, he’ll more than likely be an option off the bench as Dibling I hope will be getting starts.
11/08/2026 04:16:20
I’m a bit dubious about the ‘swap’. Lyndon mentioned some of McNeil’s skills. He is a good player but in the last year he has been pushed into a right wing position from a left midfield role. He got dropped after the Liverpool game after miscommunication with Gueye caused a sloppy turnover to lead to a goal.
Besides Garner, he is good at feeding through balls to either of Everton strikers, which is their limited strength (neither are particularly special with crosses). Johnson is a gamble. With Dibling, there will be two insecure right wingers.
11/08/2026 05:14:56
Johnson and McNeil arent like for like. Johnson is two footed and can beat defenders. McNeil had no pace and always drifted inside onto his left. Problem is Johnson struggles when teams sit deep and he has no space, which we saw at Palace. McNeil got to the point where him playing just meant we were sitting deep. So is this Moyes changing the system or just swapping players? We get pace but lose crossing and set pieces. It’s a gamble. McNeil has been looking out.
11/08/2026 08:26:15
As I tell the kids at school. The English language can
often be a complex maze of tiny complexities and nuances. It just shows what a difference one letter can make.
Kevin #4, I read your comment with some bemusement after you had started by saying this deal was a STINKER. Then I read again more carefully and saw you had written STONKER!
I tend to agree.
11/08/2026 08:52:04
Now that we have acquired the world's largest collection of midfielders, can we work on the (lack of) defence now please!
11/08/2026 09:12:31
My son messaged me late last night to say he’d heard we were also in for Munoz from Palace.I haven’t seen anything anywhere this morning, but I’ve just seen Jeff at 7 mention it too.Anyone else heard anything?
11/08/2026 09:14:04
Would think that's Tim, Alcaraz and N'Diaye available to leave. There's enough defensive cover and creativity in midfield now with recent signings. We haven't broken the bank either.
At this stage, I'm not too bothered about Grealish coming back. We have enough talent there and don't need to spend the money on him. As others have said, by the time he is back to match fitness anyway, a chunk of the season will.be gone. Signing Grealish would also make the other signings redundant and a waste of time anyway.
If Johnson can play upfront then he is a double signing. It may negate the need to sign a striker, especially if there seems to be no interest in Barry or Beto.
11/08/2026 09:51:18
David @ 14 - yes Munoz is surplus to requirements now that Palace have signed 21 yr old Anan Khalaili for £21 million. We’d get a seasoned RB who can slot straight in to the team on the cheap with Munoz, so no complaints there, but I’d rather we’d got Khalaili with his develop and sell on potential.
Munoz to us does feel imminent though - yet another good but surplus player coming our way.
11/08/2026 11:24:42
Khailaili is not a RB - he’s a specialist RWB for Palaces 343 formation. Would not be remotely suitable for a back 4.
Munoz is an excellent player. Even with Khalili’s arrival I would be very surprised if Palace were willing to let him go - and if he does leave then plenty of Champions League clubs across Europe and also Saudi will be very interested. Very unlikely to join us I would have thought.
11/08/2026 12:15:45
Tom @ 10.
I remember this game so well.
McNeil frustrated the hell out of me.
he Had Three stinkers on the trot, including that Liverpool Game.
In all three stinkers, he was replaced By Tyrique George, with fifteen minutes, and less.
In all three substitutions, Tyrique George outperformed him, and done more in those few Minutes, than McNeil all game.
After the first stinker I thought that TG, would have been nailed on, to Start, the following game instead of McNeil.
But, Alas, that wasn’t the case, as the Canny Scot knew better.. yeah! right!
Then, Moyes goes and Buys TG this Season and lets McNeil Go.
This debacle, along with others, shows me that Moysie isn’t the canniest of Scots, when it comes to Tactics.. hence the Total collapse in the run in, where a European Spot was very attainable.
He might be Canny, when choosing Slacks over Jeans to wear, when it comes to sloping around to Sir Alex Ferguson Gaffe, for some serious Tapping up, But thats about it.
11/08/2026 12:39:29
Kieran I agree about Grealish being unlikely if we keep the 4 wide players we now have, Johnson, N'Diaye, Dibbling and George. Obviously a sale of N'Diaye would open a space and provide the funds to pay Grealish!
Re centre mid I agree it is likely Alcaraz will leave, for whatever reason Moyes doesn't fancy him. I think the Tim decision depends on what they decide about Armstrong. If he goes on loan I think we keep Tim, who I think could be a decent player if he stopped the odd rash tackle and took a bit more care of the ball. If not we sell him and make a profit for a change.
11/08/2026 14:09:25
Iroegbunam will find his level at a team like Coventry so we might as well cash in. If we’re to compete for trophies we need to seriously upgrade
11/08/2026 15:28:01
Robert,
I seem to be disagreeing with you a fair bit lately but I think Tim has looked much better lately especially on Saturday until he went off.
With Norgard coming in that has sorted one DM position out but with Jimmy Garner out for god knows how long Tim will be invaluable.
I think him and Harrison Armstrong offer different strengths and therefore don't compete for a starting place and Hakney looks to need some time to get up to PL pace.
11/08/2026 15:55:20
I've been looking at who we we have signed and who we haven't signed and come to the conclusion that as we are still light of a RB and CF that we are close to needing to sell before we can buy.
We still need 1 or 2 RB's and someone that can score goals. This means that so much is up in the air as usual, but what is sure is that we can't afford the luxury and expense of Grealish in any form because he would bugger up our SCR straight away.
If we sell, say Ndiaye, to Arsenal or United for about £70/75m we will be alright and could afford Fort and Johnston plus Parrott and have some cash to spare according to my fag packet calculations.
I think that is the way to go too. Circa £8m Fort, £15m Johnston and a negotiated fee for Parrott with George on the left wing and Johnson/Dibling on the right, we then have a mixed age team who have the ability for swift transitions from defence to attack. No slow downs by McNeil or Grealish either.
My only concern with that is that Moyes whilst he favoured, at the start of the window, a 'modern' RB but now seems to have about turned and wants a traditional RB. Me, confused as usual.
NB I have heard this morning that Al-Hilal have walked away from chasing Ndiaye.
13/08/2026 15:11:38
Looking at the RB situation Moyes needs to make up his mind about what he wants. He has flip-flopped between wanting a 'traditional' and 'modern' RB so the poor recruitment team must be tearing their hair out by now.
He started off, reputedly, wanting a 'modern' wing back type with his choice eventually having zeroed in on Alistair Johnston discarding Wan-Bissaka and Norton-Cuffey who are 'traditional' in the process. As Celtic had other ideas and won't drop their price just yet he has now decided, as the rumour goes, that he has changed tack again and wants a 'traditional' RB. This is after the recruitment team have agreed a £20m fee with Palace for 30yr old 'modern' RB Munoz.
I'm not criticizing Munoz, he is an excellent player even if he is from South America and collects yellows for fun, but he doesn't exactly help in bringing down the average age of the squad.
If all this is correct I can only think that there is one of two outcomes here; 1. Jake or A N Other at RB OR 2. Kyle Walker drafted in as a temporary measure. This after how many seasons of knowing there is a identified urgent need for a proper RB, modern or traditional?
I thought that once TFG bought us we would transition to a well run club. Wrong again it appears.
13/08/2026 16:10:15
The RB situation is incredibly frustrating - but TFG are certainly showing consistency in (a) working very hard to find good value, good quality and low cost players and (b) patience.
The same names have been consistently linked for weeks too and none of them have yet moved. It looks like it will be one of Lewis, Johnston, Norton-Cuffey or possibly Spence. There's a good handful of other strong links too but the four mentioned seem the likeliest candidates.
Personally I'd like Lewis because he has the best technique, intelligence and range of passing to complement Johnson's dynamism and pace. I'm still optimistic that might happen - possibly as a loan with option / obligation to buy.
Whatever the case, selling clubs and agents know we need a RB so are maybe playing a game of brinkmanship. But I expect it will all be resolved in the next couple of weeks - it's crunch time for the market now.
13/08/2026 16:44:28
Robert @24. I'm not disagreeing with you. TFG are doing their best but Moyes seems to be dithering Dave once again. My point was that if Moyes made up his mind what he wanted it would make matters much clearer and easier for the recruitment team. It seems that, from what is being suggested, that during the Palace meeting for McNeil & Johnson, that Munoz was offered up as a RB who would be made available should we desire, all at a palatable price as far as TFG were concerned. His type (modern) was what Moyes had chosen in the frozen Johnston deal at Celtic. Moyes flipped his wants and disagreed and that is where we are currently at or so it is thought.
I haven't anything more on it than what I read but it sounds like Moyes.
If that is the case I worry that we won't get a RB or we get someone that he won't play. I would have expected that TFG, in such circumstances would put their foot down in terms of who we got and made it clear to Moyes what needed doing. That also was the point I was making and I think that approach would find favour with the majority of fans. I maybe wrong but I for one would agree with it.
13/08/2026 17:52:10
I don't really buy into the whole Dithering Dave thing.
I don't think that's how players are targeted or deals are constructed or signed off. Delays generally arise from financials and complicated relationships with agents and selling clubs. That's the market, not the manager / coach.
If Dave is dithering in this window, then Carrick, Arteta, Iraola, Emery, Sage, Andrews, Glasner, Rose and LeBris are all dithering much worse.
Since none of us where in the room for the McNeil / Johnson discussions, it's hard to form much of a view on whether Munoz featured at all. Personally for a good handful of reasons, I doubt we were ever in for Munoz.
All of the strongest links seem to be with conventional 4321 / 433 RBs with a much younger age profile than Munoz - which seems to be consistent with TFGs broader approach so far and the fact that Moyes will only manage the new RB for one season anyway.
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10/08/2026 18:49:40
He’ll give us much needed pace and if that saves splashing silly money that was being quoted for Rowe, which could go towards a quality CF / RB, it’s hard to see a downside. I hope to god Moyes gives him the freedom to cut in and shoot, we might get double figure goals from him.