Everton and Crystal Palace Circle Swap Deal That Would Send McNeil South and Johnson North
Everton and Crystal Palace are in talks over a swap deal that would send winger Dwight McNeil to Selhurst Park and forward Brennan Johnson in the opposite direction to Goodison Park, with both clubs hoping to conclude the agreement this week (BBC Sport).
The story was first reported by The Times on Sunday, 9 August (The Times), with Sky Sports and Yahoo Sports both picking up the claim — Sky attributing it to the Mail on Sunday (Sky Sports). A swap deal, in plain terms, is two clubs trading players rather than exchanging cash — each valuation offsets the other.
For McNeil, the move would revive a transfer that nearly happened six months ago. In early February, Crystal Palace agreed a loan-to-buy arrangement that would have become a permanent £20 million deal in the summer. McNeil, 26, passed a medical. The paperwork could not be completed in time, and the move collapsed on deadline day (BBC Sport).
The fallout was messy. McNeil's partner, Megan Sharpley, criticised Palace publicly on Instagram, accusing the club of toying with his mental health during the protracted negotiations (BBC Sport). That history adds an unusual layer of tension to the renewed talks — the player's camp has already felt burned by Palace once.
McNeil joined Everton from Burnley for £20 million in July 2022 and has scored 15 goals in 128 appearances across all competitions (BBC Sport). He is a left-sided winger — a player who hugs the touchline and delivers crosses — known for his work rate and sharp left foot. He was not short of suitors this summer; Sky Sports reported interest from Nottingham Forest as well as Palace (Sky Sports).
Johnson, 25, brings a more dramatic résumé but a more troubling recent record. He scored the winning goal for Tottenham in their 1-0 victory over Manchester United in the Europa League final in May 2025 — the kind of moment that should have launched him. Instead, he moved to Crystal Palace in a £35 million deal the following January and failed to score in 26 appearances for the club, 13 of them Premier League starts (BBC Sport). He did help Palace reach the Conference League final, where they beat Rayo Vallecano 1-0, though Johnson watched from the bench as an unused substitute (BBC Sport).
Palace's Conference League triumph means they will play in the Europa League — European football's second-tier club competition — in 2026-27, a step up that raises the stakes on every signing they make. Everton, who finished 13th last season to Palace's 15th, are still building under their current regime and have their own reasons to refresh the forward line.
The calendar adds a pinch of theatre. Everton and Crystal Palace meet at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday 22 August, opening weekend of the Premier League season (BBC Sport). If the paperwork goes through this week, McNeil and Johnson could line up against the clubs they just left — or, depending on the fine print, be ineligible to face their former employers at all.
For fans, that opening-day fixture just became the one to watch.
