In the early hours of Tuesday morning, shortly after the January window had ended, Dwight McNeil’s partner Megan appeared to take aim at Crystal Palace after the collapse of his move to south London at the eleventh hour.
Much of what she wrote was scathing, and tapped into existing concerns about the nature of the football industry at large.
Addressing the Everton midfielder personally, Megan described the “cruel” way in which the move had been “torn away at the last season, with no explanation”.
“Tonight, and the last 48 hours, have broken my heart to see how the football world you love so much can be so cruel to you,” she wrote on Instagram. “To have something promised to you, to have been dragged along on an emotional rollercoaster, and to be toyed with until the final minute.”
In response, the 26-year-old offered his short version of events. “Even now, I’m still in the dark,” he noted.
Dwight McNeil was left in the dark as to why Palace did not complete the deal (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
It is not unusual for deadline-day deals to collapse. Yet the fallout from this one has been significant.
Making sense of it all has not been easy amid the regular drumbeat of claim and counter-claim. Everton were furious they had not received a heads-up from Palace that the deal was off. The south London club, meanwhile, insinuated that elements of the deal changed late on, leaving them insufficient time to resolve and complete the final paperwork needed to get the loan-with-obligation move over the line. There was also a sense of unease at the numbers involved once all fees were taken into account.
“I’m not involved in the details,” Palace manager Oliver Glasner said in his pre-match press conference on Friday. “Four parties have to be happy with a deal. As soon as one isn’t, the deal will fail. Who is responsible, I don’t know. Everton were open to selling, he wanted to come, we wanted to sign. We didn’t find an agreement all together.
“We have to accept it, close the chapter. Maybe in (the) summer it will happen again. I can understand the disappointment (of McNeil) because when I got the message, I was disappointed as well.”
The Austrian had envisaged using McNeil as a backup left wing-back or in one of the No 10 roles, leaning on his set-piece delivery. “He would have been our most experienced Premier League player, with 250 appearances,” he added. “It is the Super Bowl this weekend and, in the United States, players are just traded, not even asked. They get the same contract 3,000km away.
“Here, you always need to agree. There you don’t. But is this the most sensible profession? No, it isn’t.”
Oliver Glasner hoped to add Dwight McNeil to his ranks at Selhurst Park (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
However, there are also certain parts that neither party will dispute.
Talks were held earlier in the day over an initial permanent move, eventually settling upon a deal that would be worth £20million ($27.2m). On Palace’s request, with their own sale of Jean-Philippe Mateta to Milan having fallen through, the focus shifted to a loan with obligation at the same sum.
McNeil was given permission to complete a medical in the north-west and a deal sheet was submitted — meaning the two clubs at that stage were broadly in agreement on the terms — granting both parties an additional two hours to complete the transfer. Everton insist this was ample time and that everything was in order from their side.
And yet, as the extended deadline of 9pm passed, the required paperwork had not been received from the Palace end.
“I wouldn’t talk too much but I can tell you 100 per cent it was nothing to do with Everton Football Club,” their manager David Moyes said in a press conference on Friday.
“Dwight is fine. He’s in and he’s training. He understands where it went wrong. He knows everything about it and there’s no problems there.
“It does happen and sometimes players have to live with it. It wasn’t that we didn’t want it (the move) to happen. We’d given permission for Dwight to go for a medical and do all the things required. It was very hard to do much more than we did.”
Everton are understandably disappointed to miss out on what would have been an exceptional fee for a 26-year-old set to go into the final year of his contract in the summer; one who has also been on the fringes of their squad for much of the season. It seems improbable that a similar deal will be on the table in six months’ time.
Unlike many of the players signed during former director of football Kevin Thelwell’s tenure, like James Garner, the club does not have the option to extend McNeil’s contract by a further year.
There is a frustration from their end at the lack of communication from Palace over the late collapse of the deal. Nobody is disputing the fact that Everton and McNeil were not informed of what was happening until after the window had closed.
Dwight McNeil has been left in limbo (George Wood/Getty Images)
There are obvious ramifications here.
It is not the first time Palace have made a late U-turn with a deal effectively agreed. The same happened when they attempted to sign Manor Solomon from Tottenham Hotspur last summer, while the late collapse of Marc Guehi’s move to Liverpool in the same window also led to negative media coverage. Clubs can develop a reputation in the game — among peers, players and agents — for being unreliable. There is a sense Palace may already find themselves in that bracket.
Yet the worst part of this is not Everton missing out on the money or the potential damage to Palace’s reputation, but the lack of thought for McNeil in it all.
Players may be well paid to do the job most of them love, but they are human too. They are, as Megan wrote, allowed to “feel” sad, disappointed or used, particularly when they see the chance of a fresh start ripped from their grasp at the last minute, without prior warning.
McNeil remains a popular, hard-working member of the squad known for being quiet and down-to-earth. He is close to senior figures in the dressing room like Nathan Patterson and regular captain and former Burnley team-mate James Tarkowski.
But he has also experienced his fair share of hardships, on and off the pitch, over the last 12 months. His partner Megan had a health scare that required surgery, with McNeil in hospital by her bed in the days before certain games. His form has also suffered since he sustained a knee injury last season that kept him out for just under four months.
Everton have rallied round McNeil this week (Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)
McNeil was a key pillar of the Everton side under former manager Sean Dyche, but has been relegated to bit-part player under Moyes this season. It has not been an easy time for the player and his family, and the aim from all sides since his Palace move collapsed has been to provide the necessary support.
Everton’s four-person player support team, led by Charlotte Renshaw, have been liaising with Dwight and his partner, much like they did at the time of Megan’s health issues. His representatives and senior players, like his friend Tarkowski, have also been on hand to offer their help.
“I am very happy to have him back,“ Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye told Sky Sports News. ”Dwight is a great lad and he works hard.
“He has a lot of quality and was a really important player for us in the last few years when we were battling relegation. Hopefully, he will just put it to the side and we will be there to welcome him, to make him comfortable.”
Everton have been pleased with the response from fans this week in the aftermath of the failed Palace move. On Tuesday, the club posted their own public message of support to McNeil. “Still one of us and a big few months ahead,” they wrote. “Everyone at Everton is behind you, Dwight.”
Still one of us and a big few months ahead. Everyone at Everton is behind you, Dwight. 👊💙 pic.twitter.com/4SSLIMHROQ
— Everton (@Everton) February 3, 2026
McNeil’s time on Merseyside may still soon come to an end. Everton were willing to sanction his sale and have another decision to make in the summer as he enters his final year. But do not be surprised if he gets opportunities between now and the end of the season.
Moyes is a pragmatist and will go with what he thinks is most likely to give his team the best chance of sustaining their challenge for European football. He likes experience and, in recent weeks, picked McNeil ahead of £40million summer signing Tyler Dibling.
Whether McNeil can recapture the form that made him such a key part of Dyche’s team remains to be seen. But even if he does not, it is worth remembering his role in helping the club successfully stave off the threat of relegation in previous seasons.
Since the start of the 2022-23 season, no Everton player has had more goal involvements (30), with Abdoulaye Doucoure 10 behind in second.
McNeil’s double paved the way for the crucial May 2023 win at Brighton & Hove Albion, without which Everton almost certainly would not have retained their Premier League status. He also played in a makeshift left wing-back role in the agonising final-day win over Bournemouth.
The following season, he scored two pivotal goals against Nottingham Forest — one at home, one away — as Dyche’s side overcame two rounds of points deductions to comfortably beat the drop. These were key junctures in the club’s history.
Whatever happens from here, nobody will be able to take that away from him.