Brennan Johnson Undergoes Everton Medical in Swap for Dwight McNeil

Brennan Johnson is set to undergo his Everton medical today as part of a straight swap deal that will send Dwight McNeil to Crystal Palace, in one of the more intriguing pieces of business of this summer’s window.

Palace have chased McNeil for the best part of a year. A January move collapsed at the last moment, but their persistence has finally forced a breakthrough, with Everton agreeing to trade the 24-year-old winger for Johnson rather than haggle over fees. No add-ons, no complicated clauses: just a clean exchange of two players both in need of a reset.

Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano has reported that “everything is done” between the clubs, with only the formalities of medicals and paperwork left to complete. Assuming no late hitch, Johnson will become Everton’s fifth signing of the summer, joining Hayden Hackney, Christian Norgaard and the now-permanent additions of Merlin Röhl and Tyrique George.

For Everton, this is a bet on upside. A big one.

Johnson arrives after a bruising half-season at Crystal Palace, who paid around £35m to prise him away from Tottenham Hotspur in January. The move never quite clicked. He struggled to impose himself, never finding the rhythm or freedom he had enjoyed in North London. By the end of the campaign, he looked like a player searching for the version of himself everyone had expected to see.

Everton are banking on that version returning quickly.

Because the numbers from his time at Spurs in 2024/25 still leap off the page. Across all competitions he hit 18 goals in 51 appearances, including 11 in 33 Premier League games. Those aren’t just solid returns for a wide forward; they are the sort of figures that normally push a winger into the conversation for the division’s most dangerous attackers.

Dig a little deeper and the picture becomes even clearer. Per 90 minutes that season, the Wales international ranked second among Premier League wingers for expected goals, non-penalty expected goals, dribble success rate and duels won. He also sat fifth for goal conversion. That is a profile of a player constantly arriving in the right areas, beating his man, and turning chances into goals at a rate that matters.

Everton have been crying out for that kind of direct threat from wide areas. Johnson, at 25, offers pace, penetration and a willingness to attack defenders that can shift the tempo of a game in a single surge. If Sean Dyche – or whoever leads Everton’s attack this season – can tap back into the confidence and clarity of his Spurs spell, Goodison Park will have a forward who changes the mood every time he gets on the ball.

The flip side is McNeil’s departure. Palace are not taking a cast-off; they are landing a left-sided technician they have admired for months, a player whose delivery and work rate have long appealed to Selhurst Park. For them, the swap answers a long-standing question about how to add creativity and graft on the flank without entering a bidding war.

For Everton, it is a reshaping of the attack with a clear edge of risk. McNeil brought control and reliability. Johnson brings volatility and a higher ceiling. One smooths games out; the other can rip them open.

The medicals will confirm the final details, but the real examination starts when Johnson pulls on the Everton shirt. Is this the move that reignites the Spurs version of Brennan Johnson, the one whose metrics put him among the elite? Or does his Palace spell prove a warning that those heights are harder to reach than one golden season suggests?