Paul-Jose M'Poku came closest to a Tottenham Hotspur appearance in February 2010. The winger, signed with great fanfare from Standard Liege as a teenager, was named on the bench by Harry Redknapp for a 4-0 FA Cup win over Bolton but never made it onto the pitch.
A family affair in north London
Eleven years later, M'Poku returned to the capital as his younger brother Albert Sambi Lokonga joined Arsenal. Sambi Lokonga experienced the Premier League football that eluded his sibling, but his arrival was a source of pride—despite it being on the other side of the north London divide.
“I was there as a big brother to advise him like, okay, England is like this, and some of the people that I know in England that can maybe help you to adapt if you ever need anything,” M'Poku told Mirror Football. “I was just there as a big brother. I didn't really tell him to do anything or to do something. If he needed me then he knew I was there. Obviously we went there for the signing and everything and it was I was so happy for me to see him in the Prem.”
Brotherly pride and a missed dream
Sambi Lokonga made 51 Premier League appearances—25 for Arsenal and 26 during loan spells at Crystal Palace and Luton Town—before joining current club Hamburg in September. Rather than holding any resentment due to the rivalry, M'Poku saw his brother's arrival in England as mission accomplished after his own near miss.
“I always said to him that the place that I didn't reach you have to reach, what I didn't win, you have to win,” he said. “So for me, I'm so proud to be his big brother and yeah, yeah, I'm proud of him. Not only as a footballer but as a man.”
M'Poku's winding career path
M'Poku's career took a different route. He returned to boyhood club Standard Liege after leaving Spurs in 2011 and also played at top-flight clubs in Italy, Greece, the UAE, Turkey, South Korea, Romania and Saudi Arabia. He came through at the same time as Harry Kane, spending time on loan at Leyton Orient alongside the England captain in a formative spell for both. While they are not in regular contact now, they share mutual friends, and M'Poku knows Kane's club manager Vincent Kompany and members of Bayern Munich's coaching staff.
Now 34, the Congolese international winger is spending the twilight of his career in Baller League, competing with former Premier League players in the indoor, small-sided format. He still keeps an eye on his old employers and is saddened by Tottenham's plight as they battle to avoid relegation.
Reflections on Tottenham's decline
“One of the things I remember is when we came to Spurs, they were speaking about the vision that they had, about the new academy training centre and the new stadium,” he said. “Back in the day I remember the club speaking about how they want to build with young players and be in the Champions League and everything in the next few years. So I saw it when I left Spurs with the new training ground, with the new stadium. And for me now, seeing the club in that position is a bit sad because... it does mean something went wrong in one moment.”
Spurs travel to bottom-of-the-table Wolves this weekend knowing anything less than a win will guarantee they stay below the relegation line. Arsenal, in contrast, trail league leaders Manchester City on goals scored alone and can move top with a win at home to Newcastle. The season could yet end with a double celebration for one side of the rivalry, even if some targets have changed since the start. As M'Poku and Sambi Lokonga have shown, some have been able to look past the history between the two famous clubs.
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