Everton have added the Welsh international forward Brennan Johnson to their squad, directly replacing McNeil who leaves Merseyside with a year remaining on his contract.
The former Nottingham Forest and Tottenham player who only moved to Selhurst Park earlier this year in a £35 million deal, becomes the Blues forth new signing after Hayden Hackney, Tyrique George and Christian Norgaard were added to Merlin Rohl whose loan was made permanent.
If used correctly, Brennan Johnson could benefit David Moyes
Everton need additional pace and options up front and out wide and so the versatile Johnson's arrival does at least in theory, improve the attacking choices David Moyes has at his disposal.
But there are doubts about what version of the 25-year-old the Toffees will be getting and whether it will prove a mistake to let McNeil leave, who proved a decent squad player later last season.
Back in his Forest days Johnson was a prolific scorer for the Midlands club and looked a quality talent who then broke into the Wales squad and has since made nearly fifty appearances for them.
Spurs were certainly impressed and paid £47 million for him in January 2024. He then went on to prove a hit at first in North London ending the following Premier League campaign by scoring eighteen goals, including the winner in Tottenham's Europa League triumph.
Spurs though were struggling in the league with managerial upheaval not helping and after a dip in form, Johnson moved to Palace for a then Eagles club record fee six months ago.
Things however did not work for him and he failed to make a favourable impression for the South London side in a season in which he was unable to score a Premier League goal but did win his second consecutive European trophy.
So, now he is an Everton player and we have to hope that Moyes can find a way to revitalize Johnson and bring back the forward who was widely touted as a potentially top Premier League performer. If not, then he will prove yet another busted flush in a long history of such signings by this club.
One other issue is that this deal looks like another low-budget transfer, further underlining the feeling that the Blues may not be able to compete for better and more highly regarded talent in this transfer window, for financial or other reasons.
Although there has been much talk of Jack Grealish returning to the Hill Dickinson after his performances in the last campaign before his mid-season injury, at the moment a new deal for the former England star seems a long way off.
And on top of that is the still unresolved question of when or whether Everton will ever get the new right-back they so desperately need.
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