Borussia Dortmund wanted to keep him, but Paris Brunner was not satisfied with the plan presented to him. So he moved to AS Monaco and was loaned to Cercle Bruges. It’s not working out there yet.

Paris Brunner is a real Dortmund boy. Born in Dortmund, trained at BVB, 18 years young. But the attacking talent turned his back on BVB in the summer and moved to AS Monaco. From there he was loaned out to the Belgian first division club Cercle Bruges – where he is supposed to play.

But that’s not really happening yet. “We will give Paris time to fit into our team,” said Cercle’s technical director, Rembert Vromant, upon Brunner’s arrival (via kicker). And: “He is tall and physically strong, but at the same time very agile and has the necessary technical qualities to play in various attacking positions.”

In fact, Brunner still has to take a back seat. He has only been fielded once from the start. In the 4-1 defeat to Wisla Krakow in the Conference League qualifier, he was allowed to play in the first half and was then substituted. Otherwise, he has made three substitute appearances in the league and Conference League.

Brunner has not yet scored or assisted. In the recent 6-2 win against FC St. Gallen, Brunner at least came on for the final quarter of an hour.

He is, however, still a set starter for the German U19 national team. On Wednesday, October 9, there was a 2-1 victory in a friendly against Spain. Goal and assist? Paris Brunner.

BVB wanted to keep Brunner

Brunner joined BVB from VfL Bochum’s youth team in 2020. There was no doubt about the talent of the striker, who was already playing for the U19s at the age of 15. But there were doubts about his professionalism. Brunner repeatedly attracted attention in Dortmund due to a lack of discipline, and last season he was temporarily suspended.

And yet: “We would have liked to have tied Paris to Borussia Dortmund in the long term, but unfortunately he did not want to go down the path we had outlined for him,” explained BVB sports director Sebastian Kehl, adding: “We thank Paris for his time at BVB and, of course, wish him all the best for the future.”

According to media reports, Brunner had been offered a contract, but was not convinced by the prospects presented to him. In total, the German U17 World and European champion made 38 appearances for the BVB U19 team in the A-Junior Bundesliga West (24 goals, ten assists) and 14 Youth League games (five goals, one assist). Last May, he reached the final of the German U19 junior championship.

Brunner played two third-division games for the U23 team and was once nominated for the Bundesliga squad.