Six months on from his dramatic, failed deadline-day move to Crystal Palace, Dwight McNeil is finally their player, as part of a deal that sees Brennan Johnson go the other way and join Everton.

Straight swap deals of this nature are increasingly rare in football. In recent seasons, clubs such as Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton and Newcastle United have traded mostly academy graduates in a bid to achieve regulatory compliance, but made sure to register them as separate transactions.

Those moves were scrutinised by the Premier League to establish whether they were carried out at fair market value and, while no repercussions were felt domestically, that was not the case abroad. UEFA’s specific regulations around ‘player exchange transactions’ necessitated a reduction in the profits those clubs made by sending players in opposing directions.

Before those deals, you have to go back to January 2018, and the transfer where Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez and Manchester United counterpart Henrikh Mkhitaryan swapped places, for another example of Premier League sides directly trading players without any money being exchanged. Neither signing worked out, with Sanchez managing five goals in 45 appearances over his two seasons before leaving for Inter, while Mkhitaryan departed for Roma in 2020, having scored nine in 59.

Sources consulted for this piece by The Athletic, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect relationships, point to the increasingly complex nature of swap deals at the top level.

Contracts often contain intricate, bespoke clauses pertinent to a specific player, while image rights are also a consideration. Two sets of terms need to be agreed for such a deal to get over the line.

Alexis Sanchez and Henrikh Mkhitaryan moved in a swap deal in 2018 (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, in both the PSR (profitability and sustainability rules) era and the new SCR (squad cost ratio) one, there is a need for each transfer to work financially, and in an accounting sense, for the clubs involved.

“It’s hard enough to get one player to move, let alone two in the same deal,” one Premier League owner told The Athletic in 2021, during the pandemic. “Obviously with less money (around), the idea is that you can do a player-plus-cash. But the club you’re buying off has to fancy one of your players, and you have to be willing to let him go, and the player has to be willing to go to that club — that’s very difficult to organise.”

With transfer fees and wages amortised — i.e., spread out — over the duration of a signing’s contract, clubs are usually keen to protect the ‘book value’ of a player and not incur a loss by selling for a lower amount than their ‘paper’ value. There are also separate agents’ fees to agree, and any purchase by a Premier League team is subject to a four per cent transfer levy (soon to rise to six per cent).

In that context, achieving an agreement in which both clubs pay the exact same amount is particularly challenging, albeit not impossible.

But here we have a genuine example of a swap deal between two Premier League sides, brokered by the same agency — Johnson and McNeil are both represented by Unique Sports Group (USG) — and with the players involved valued at the exact same level.

That valuation is still expected to be assessed by the Premier League under its fair market value protocol, but no money is expected to change hands.

SCR now averages player profits over three years, so the incentive to egregiously increase any profit recognised on a swap deal, which was a concern in those deals of a few seasons ago, is reduced in the new regulatory environment. As well as that profit — or loss — recognition, both clubs will now have to amortise the agreed values of McNeil and Johnson over the four-year contracts they have each signed, which will contribute to SCR costs.

And both Everton and Palace are likely to argue, to varying extents, that they have achieved a good outcome — or at least one that works for them.

One aspect of this deal that struck sources with knowledge of the process was how quickly it progressed after being initially broached by USG in talks between the two clubs.

Palace had residual interest in McNeil after that collapsed winter-window move, while Everton were keen to offload a player who had a year remaining on his contract. The preference was to move him on now, rather than extend the 26-year-old’s deal.

Dwight McNeil had a year left on his Everton contract (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Everton started this window valuing the attacking midfielder in the £15million ($20m) bracket, a sizeable amount given his contractual situation. They were aware he would appeal to a smaller group of Premier League clubs, and were keen to find a creative solution that not only guaranteed his exit but allowed them to strengthen their squad.

McNeil joined them from Burnley for £20million in summer 2022 and had a book value of around £5m. As a result, any transaction — even a paper one that did not include any money changing hands — in excess of that amount would represent profit from an SCR perspective.

The Merseyside outfit were already on the lookout for a pacy right-winger who could stretch play and provide a goal threat when the chance to sign Johnson cropped up.

Everton had tracked the Wales international during former director of football Kevin Thelwell’s time at the club, coming close to a move before his then club Nottingham Forest’s promotion back to the Premier League in 2022.

There is an acceptance that it may take some time and hard work to get Johnson back to the player he was at Forest and then Tottenham after an underwhelming time at Palace following his arrival in last season’s winter window, but key figures, including Everton’s manager David Moyes, were quickly aligned on the deal, believing him to have traits that could help the side.

There is a belief at Everton that they have a potential bargain in Johnson, should the 25-year-old rediscover his past form. Their research highlighted his scoring record at both Forest and Spurs — he got 18 goals across all competitions for the latter in 2024-25 — and ability to attack the back post and break lines with his runs.

Johnson is viewed as a direct replacement for McNeil, who was a squad player rather than a guaranteed starter, rather than someone who will necessarily take over Iliman Ndiaye’s role if he leaves in this window, or that of last season’s Manchester City loanee Jack Grealish. A move to re-sign the latter will depend on the financial terms that would get a deal done with City, as well as the timeline for his recovery from the foot injury that ended his season in January.

It is telling that Johnson was deemed surplus to requirements by Palace so soon after his £35million move from Spurs in early January. He made 13 league starts for the south London club, failed to score in 26 appearances across all competitions, and found himself out of the side before the end of the season.

Brennan Johnson never managed to score for Crystal Palace (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

It became increasingly difficult to see where Johnson fitted into the Palace manager Oliver Glasner’s system, which derives most of its width from the wing-backs and often uses two inverted attacking midfielders, or indeed that of the Austrian’s successor this summer, Pierre Sage. Palace prioritised recouping as much of their initial outlay as possible, without incurring too much of an SCR hit.

The hope for Johnson and Everton is that Moyes’ system is more suited to maximising his talents. The same could be said for McNeil at Palace, given he enjoys drifting into central areas and striking at goal with his dangerous left foot.

For those reasons and more, the sense from many involved is that the deal works for all sides. It gives both players an opportunity to rediscover their form in contexts that should be more suited to their skill sets, and will hopefully provide them with a fresh lease on life.

After pulling out of the signing at the 11th hour on deadline day in February, something heavily criticised by McNeil’s partner Megan at the time, Palace had to work hard with the player and his camp to convince him this was the right move. A new long-term deal and the chance to play Europa League football this season only helped their cause.

Lastly, the pair could be in for swift reunions with their previous club — Everton host Palace on August 22 in both teams’ first match of the new Premier League season. That game will be an early chance for Johnson and McNeil to make their mark, and show their old employer what they are missing.

History shows us swap deals rarely work out for all parties. Time will tell if this one can buck the trend.