Paul-Jose M'Poku at Baller League
Paul-Jose M'Poku's brother played Premier League football a decade after his Spurs dream ended(Image: Baller League)
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The closest Paul-Jose M'Poku got to a Tottenham Hotspur appearance came 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 didn't make it onto the pitch.
Eleven years later, M'Poku was back in the capital as his younger brother Albert Sambi Lokonga joined Arsenal. Sambi Lokonga got the taste of Premier League football which eluded his sibling but his arrival was a matter of pride - despite it being on the other side of the north London divide.
"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."
Sambi Lokonga would end up making 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 bad blood due to the rivalry, M'Poku considered his brother's arrival in England as mission accomplished after his own nearly moment.
"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."
Albert Sambi Lokonga playing for Arsenal
Albert Sambi Lokonga made 25 Premier League appearances for Arsenal(Image: Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
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M'Poku's career has gone down a rather different path. He returned to boyhood club Standard Liege after leaving Spurs in 2011 and also spent time 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 spell which had formative elements for both men. While the pair aren't in regular contact these days, they have mutual friends and M'Poku knows Kane's club manager Vincent Kompany and members of the Belgian's Bayern Munich coaching staff.
Now 34, the Congolese international winger is spending the twilight of his career in Baller League, rubbing shoulders with former Premier League players in the indoor, small-sided format. He is still keeping an eye on his old employers, though, and is saddened by Tottenham's plight as they battle to avoid relegation.
Paul-Jose M'Poku at Tottenham
M'Poku joined Tottenham as a teenager(Image: PA Archive/PA Images)
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Paul-Jose M'Poku in Baller League
The Congolese international is now in Baller League(Image: Baller League)
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"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 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 the wrong side of the dotted line. Arsenal, in contrast, are behind league leaders Manchester City on goals scored alone and can move top this weekend 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 of the season. As M'Poku and Sambi Lokonga have demonstrated, though, some have been able to look past the history between the two famous clubs.
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