The Toffees look to secure a shrewd financial victory by trading the expiring contract of Dwight McNeil for Crystal Palace's pacey, high-value Welsh international Brennan Johnson.
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Everton are reportedly closing in on a potential swap deal with Crystal Palace involving Brennan Johnson and Dwight McNeil.
According to reports, Everton and Palace are in talks over a swap deal involving Johnson and McNeil, with Paul Joyce claiming that there are no finances involved.
It looks set to be a straight swap, and their medicals could even take place as early as Monday.
It's a fairly suprising move, considering we don't often see too many straight swap deals in modern football. Everton were always likely to try to offload McNeil this summer, and they appear to be getting a player in return.
The finances
Firstly, it feels right to start with the finances of a deal, as they are crucial.
Reports have suggested that Johnson and McNeil are going to switch clubs, with no transfer fee involved. When I first read this, I must admit I was fairly shocked.
Johnson made the move to Palace during the January transfer window for a fee in the region of £35m, with Tottenham making a loss on him. In the same window, Palace also tried to sign McNeil for a fee of around £20m, which felt like an overpay at the time.
With McNeil now entering the final year of his contract, and it no longer being a late panic deal for the Eagles, his value has undoubtedly decreased.
There’s a chance Johnson’s value has decreased after a disappointing season, but not that drastically.
Simply looking at the finances and the evidence we have in terms of previous fees and contract situations, Everton undoubtedly have the better end of the deal without even considering the abilities of each player.
One thing that does come into it is wages, but we don’t have much reliable information on that to lead off. I don’t doubt that Johnson is on more money, but I do feel they’ll be coming closer together with their next moves.
This is one of a few big moves for McNeil, whereas it’ll be Johnson’s second big move in the space of under a year. McNeil will likely be looking for a big pay rise after signing for Everton as a fairly young lad, while Johnson will already likely be being paid handsomely by Palace and Tottenham previously.
McNeil vs Johnson
There’s no hiding from the fact that Johnson endured a difficult 25/26 campaign, but that certainly doesn’t make him a bad player.
He’s the type of player you don’t want involved too much in build-up play, but he is a constant threat in the opposition box. The Welsh international will find ways of scoring goals, even if he isn’t playing well, and he made a name for himself arriving at the back post to score.
Johnson also has the pace to run in behind, something Everton don’t have in a winger at the moment. Everton’s current crop of wingers, and this includes Jack Grealish if he signs, are all ‘ball to feet’ wingers.
Johnson is someone who stretches the play, dragging away markers with his runs and looking to get in behind the defence.
McNeil is another ‘ball to feet’ winger, and considering he’s behind the likes of Iliman Ndiaye, Tyrique George, potentially Grealish and Tyler Dibling in the pecking order, it makes sense to offload him.
McNeil doesn’t have the pace or power to make a huge impact at Premier League level anymore. If you’re a side looking to pump crosses into the box, he can be effective, but even that side of his game gets nullified due to his predictability.
For me, not only is Johnson the better player, he’s more effective and more the profile that Everton need going forward.
A signing fans shouldn’t read too much into
I’ve seen some fans complaining about the potential signing, suggesting that they would rather target an alternative.
I think people have to step back and think about how the deal has likely happened. Palace have an interest in McNeil from January, and likely explored a move again this summer. With McNeil’s value decreasing, Everton clearly looked to try and get the best possible deal.
Palace are likely to only offer a small fee due to McNeil’s contract expiring, and Everton showing their hand in January that they were willing to offload him. Instead of taking a small fee, which they’d struggle to find a replacement with, they’ve asked about Johnson.
It’s a transfer that can kind of be ignored, in a weird way. This isn’t Everton prioritising a winger signing, it’s increasing the value of the squad for nothing. McNeil could maybe bring us in, £10m? Johnson went for £35m this year.
It’s a value play from Everton, who are letting someone leave who clearly wanted to join, and bringing in a player who suits us and has a point to prove. If you offload Johnson in a year or so if it’s not worked out, you’d likely make more than the £10m we would have maybe got for McNeil, you see?
That might be a weird way of looking at it, but it’s how I’m treating the deal.
If the finances are true, this is a deal that makes complete sense for Everton. We’re not even relying on Johnson getting back to his old best.
That would be great, of course, but in reality, he’s going to come in and be a rotational option if we keep Ndiaye and sign Grealish.
If the finances change, that could change my outlook on a deal, but as it stands, it makes complete sense.