Rare Premier League Swap: McNeil for Johnson Explained
A rare straight swap is taking shape in the Premier League – and it is dragging the rulebook into the spotlight as much as the players involved.
Everton winger Dwight McNeil is set to join Crystal Palace, with Eagles forward Brennan Johnson heading in the opposite direction to Goodison Park. Deals like this almost never happen in England’s top flight. Clubs usually prefer clean, simple transfers: one fee, one player, no accounting gymnastics.
This one is different. On paper, it will not be a swap at all.
One deal, two transfers, plenty of numbers
For the Premier League, McNeil-for-Johnson is treated as two entirely separate transfers. Two incoming players, two outgoing, two sets of numbers fed into the league’s squad cost ratio (SCR) calculations.
That ratio, designed to keep spending in check, looks at how much of a club’s revenue goes on wages, transfer amortisation and related costs. Every big move leaves a footprint. This one leaves two.
The detail matters for Palace. Johnson originally cost them £35m. The value they now place on him in this swap will feed directly into their SCR and their accounts.
If Johnson is booked at around £30m in this deal, it would effectively show as a neutral piece of business for Palace in accounting terms. No major gain, no major loss. Just a reshaping of the squad.
Drop that valuation, though, and the picture changes.
The risk on Palace’s books
There is a recent benchmark. When McNeil’s proposed move to Selhurst Park collapsed in February, he was valued at £20m. Use that figure again, and the numbers become stark.
If this is a true like-for-like swap and both players are recorded at £20m, Palace would be taking a £10m hit on Johnson compared with the £35m they paid. On the balance sheet, that is a loss. A real one.
Those are the margins clubs now live on. It is not just about whether the manager fancies a left-footed winger or a versatile forward. It is about how those preferences collide with financial rules that are tightening by the season.
Fair market value: the final hurdle
None of this can happen without clearing another gate: the Premier League’s fair market value (FMV) checks.
Brought in back in 2021, alongside regulations on associated party transactions (APTs), FMV rules are there to “safeguard the financial stability, integrity and competitive balance” of the league. In plain terms, they are meant to stop clubs inflating or deflating prices to game the system.
So McNeil and Johnson will not just be judged by directors and agents. External valuation firms will pore over their profiles – age, performance, recent form – and stack them up against similar players and recent deals.
Is Johnson really worth £30m in this context? Is McNeil still a £20m winger? Do those numbers look like the going rate in today’s market, or like creative accounting?
Those independent assessments feed into the Premier League’s final call. The league, not the clubs, decides whether the valuations pass the FMV test.
Only then can the paperwork match the headlines: McNeil in Palace colours, Johnson in Everton blue. Until that sign-off arrives, this rare swap sits in a grey zone – a reminder that in the modern Premier League, every transfer is a negotiation not just with another club, but with the rulebook itself.
