The Dwight McNeil Crystal Palace switch is finally on. Everton and Crystal Palace have agreed a swap deal that sends the 26-year-old winger to Selhurst Park while Wales international Brennan Johnson travels in the opposite direction, according to BBC Sport. Both players are expected to undergo medicals on Monday, with each set to sign an initial four-year contract at their new club.
It is the deal Palace supporters have been bracing for since Everton first tabled their surprise swap bid at the weekend — only now it has crossed the line. Here is what the agreement means, why it matters, and what comes next for Pierre Sage’s reshaped forward line.
- The deal: Dwight McNeil to Crystal Palace, Brennan Johnson to Everton, medicals booked for Monday.
- The terms: initial four-year contracts for both wingers (BBC Sport).
- The backstory: a revived version of the McNeil move that collapsed in February.
- The context: Sage’s rebuild continues after Tomiyasu and Mingueza arrived earlier in the window.
A move six months in the making
This is not the first time McNeil has been on the brink of joining Palace. As BBC Sport notes, the winger came agonisingly close to a move to Selhurst Park at the start of February, when the Eagles agreed a loan-to-buy arrangement that would have become a permanent £20m switch this summer. That deal fell apart when the required paperwork could not be completed in time, even though McNeil had already passed his medical.
The breakdown left a mark. McNeil’s partner, Megan Sharpley, publicly criticised the club on Instagram, writing: “To have something promised to you, to have been dragged along on an emotional rollercoaster and to be toyed with until the final minute. For that to be torn away from you at the last second with absolutely no explanation has hurt more than I can say.” Six months on, the two clubs have found a route back to the table — this time with Johnson folded into the exchange to balance the books.
What the Dwight McNeil Crystal Palace swap gives Sage
For Pierre Sage — appointed in June on a three-year deal from RC Lens, and the man tasked with steering Palace through a first Europa League league-phase campaign — McNeil offers something the squad has lacked: a natural left-sided creator with Premier League mileage. Since joining Everton from Burnley for £20m in July 2022, McNeil has scored 15 times in 128 appearances in all competitions, developing into a dependable provider from wide areas and set-pieces.
He arrives into a forward group that already features Ismaila Sarr, last season’s top scorer, alongside Yeremy Pino, Eddie Nketiah, Jean-Philippe Mateta and club-record signing Jorgen Strand Larsen. McNeil’s delivery and left-foot quality give Sage a different profile to work with as the manager continues to stamp his identity on a side that lifted the Conference League in May — the club’s first European trophy.
Why Johnson is the one moving on
The Johnson half of the swap tells its own story. The 25-year-old only arrived at Palace in a £35m deal in January and played his part in the run to the Conference League final, though he was an unused substitute in the 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig. On the pitch, the numbers never quite clicked: Johnson failed to score in 26 appearances across all competitions, including 13 Premier League starts.
That is a modest return for a reported eight-figure fee, and with Sage recalibrating his attack it makes sense that Johnson — a Wales international with 45 caps who scored Tottenham’s winner in the 2025 Europa League final against Manchester United — would be the piece Everton coveted. A fresh start at Goodison Park suits both club and player.
How it fits Palace’s summer
The swap lands in the middle of a busy window for the Eagles. Sage has already added experience at the back through free-agent signing Takehiro Tomiyasu, whose arrival slotted neatly into the manager’s rebuild, as well as Oscar Mingueza earlier in the summer, while Maxence Lacroix departed for Chelsea. The direction of travel is clear: Sage is reshaping the group in his own image rather than simply inheriting Oliver Glasner’s trophy-winning squad.
Elsewhere, Palace remain active in the market. The club have been strongly linked with Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara — Yahoo Sports reported an offer, with Football Place putting a bid at around €50m and other outlets suggesting Monaco have so far held firm — while there is reported interest from Cardiff, Norwich and Preston in taking academy winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi out on the move. Those situations remain unresolved and should be treated as rumour until the clubs confirm otherwise.
The counter-argument: is this a downgrade?
Not everyone will be sold. Johnson is four years younger than McNeil and carries genuine top-end pace and a proven big-game moment in the shape of that Europa League final winner. Losing a £35m January signing after barely half a season is not the profile of a club that got its recruitment right first time, and some supporters will fairly ask why Palace are effectively resetting a position they invested heavily in only months ago.
The rebuttal is that fit matters more than fee. Johnson’s goal drought was real, McNeil suits a left-sided creative brief that Sage appears to value, and a swap allows Palace to refresh the flank without a fresh cash outlay. In a summer where the club is balancing Europa League squad-building against Profit and Sustainability considerations, a like-for-like exchange is an efficient piece of business — provided McNeil rediscovers his best Everton form.
What happens next
The immediate next step is straightforward: medicals on Monday, then the formal announcements once both are passed and the paperwork — the very thing that scuppered the February attempt — is finalised. Assuming no late complications, McNeil could be available for selection as Sage finalises his squad ahead of the new campaign, with the Europa League league phase to come later in the autumn.
For Palace fans who watched the McNeil saga collapse in February, this feels like unfinished business being put right. For Johnson, it is a chance to reboot a career that stalled in south London. Keep it locked to Read Crystal Palace for confirmation and reaction as both medicals are completed.
