Not every talented player on Spurs’ books went on to become a star player for the club at senior level. (Image: Getty)
Former Tottenham youngster Paul-José M-Poku joined the club at the age of 15, when Gareth Bale was making a name for himself in north London, and rose through the ranks alongside Harry Kane. But it was another teammate who stood out. London-born playmaker John Bostock joined the club just a few weeks before Mpok, but the Congolese international recalls that he was more than worthy of the hype. Although neither player broke into Spurs’ first team, they flourished overseas before reuniting this year in the Bowler League, a smaller competition that pits former Premier League stars against stars from more diverse backgrounds.
“He was already ahead of everything physically and mentally compared to a lot of us, so you’re going to see things that you would never see in a young player of this age,” M’Poku told Express Sport. M’Poku counts Bostock as one of his best friends in the game, and their careers followed similar paths. Both players joined Spurs for huge transfer fees as teenagers. Bostock cost £700,000 after making his Crystal Palace debut as a 15-year-old, but M’Poku attracted attention at Standard Liege and returned a sizeable sum to the club. Both then became relatively nomads, each playing in several different countries and eventually rejoining the same team more than a decade after their stint with Spurs.
Bostock has played in five countries, while Mpok, who was most recently in Saudi Arabia, has played in nine countries. But the winger, now 34, points to his former Spurs colleague as an example for young players looking to spread their wings and realize there is much to explore outside of English football’s pyramid.
“I told him many times that he should go abroad and he actually went abroad and he did really well,” M-Poku added. “He went to France, won the Ligue 2 Player of the Year award with Reims and had great experience in Belgium and elsewhere.
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“I really believe that more English players should do that because there are a lot of good clubs and good leagues overseas that give young players the opportunity to play.”
“I was talking to[academy director]Alex Inglethorpe at Liverpool and I was saying that young players need to go overseas because not everyone can go to the Premier League.”
John Bostock was highly rated when he joined Spurs. (Image: Getty)
M-Poku believes the loan system helped jump-start his career after moving to the UK at the age of 15, unable to speak the language, and being shocked by the system due to its steep learning curve. He spent a season with Spurs loanees Kane and Tom Carroll at Leyton Orient, getting his first taste of senior football and laying the foundations for a career that would see him play in Serie A and the Turkish Super League.
“Even though I’m a young man, I felt like I was living like a professional,” he said. “Let’s say from the age of 15 you have a gym, you go through tough training and you get put into a Premier League atmosphere, but at your age they’re trying to prepare you for what the Premier League demands and everything.
“So for me the first few months were a bit of a shock. I was very tired and was sleeping all the time. My body wasn’t used to it, but then it got used to it.
“One thing that really helped me was being able to go on loan to Leyton Orient when I was younger with Harry Kane and Tom Carroll. That was really good for my development.”
Paul-Jose Mpoku is currently playing in the Bowler League with Bostock. (Image: Bowler League)
In the end, he never got a first-team chance at Spurs, but he was selected in Harry Redknapp’s matchday squad for the FA Cup matches. His path to the first team was blocked by the likes of Bale and Aaron Lennon, and he eventually returned to Standard Liege.
He then went on to have a fulfilling career with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including 22 senior caps and over 300 top league appearances. It was another former Spurs youngster, Sam Cox, who persuaded M’Poku to take the big step of moving to the Bowler League, giving him another chance to put his preconceptions aside.
“My first impression is good because it gives hope to other players who didn’t do well as a professional like me,” he said. “For me, this is another way to play soccer and for others to have a dream that maybe one day they can play in a bowler league.”
He noted that the crowd was bigger than some of the professional matches he had played in, and suggested that no one should think that a top-level career can prepare them for the various challenges that will befall them. “I grew up playing in the streets and playing futsal, but to be honest, it’s not the same,” he said.
“This is really a new era of football. You can’t play there if you only play futsal, you can’t play there if you only play (11-a-side) football, so it’s somewhere in between.” Don’t come here and say, “It’s easy because I played in Prem,” or “It’s easy because I played futsal.” No, no, no, no, no. That’s a different game. ”
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