The 20-year-old has scored six goals in his first seven competitive games for Monaco, the latest against Lens on the last weekend before the international break. Yet he is not in the 44-man group that new national coach Jürgen Klopp named for the Nations League.
He has instead been called up for the first time to the Germany under-21s for their remaining European Championship qualifiers.
Kicker reports that DR Congo, the country of his mother's family, is stepping up its efforts to win him over. According to the magazine, Brunner is “not averse” to representing the Central African nation, which has been courting him for months, and Klopp's decision to leave him out is said to have disappointed him. Regular playing time would be on offer there.
The Congolese federation reportedly sees him as a possible successor to Cédric Bakambu, the 35-year-old who is no longer part of coach Sébastien Desabre's long-term plans. Desabre said recently: “We went to his parents to speak. But we will not put him under pressure.
"He is attached to Congo just as he is to Germany. He will take time to think, and then we will see in November what comes of it.”
Klopp was asked about Brunner at his press conference, and replied: “I have not spoken with him, but I know Paris. And Hannes Wolf, who is in our coaching team, is a big supporter.”
Pressed further, the national coach added: “He has done it really well up to now. The football side.”
The football side is only part of the picture. Brunner, a former Dortmund youth player who won the World Cup and European Championship with Germany's under-17s in 2023, has often attracted attention on and off the pitch. The most recent example was his throat-cutting celebration after a goal at Strasbourg, which drew criticism and a disciplinary investigation by the French league.
The under-21s face Latvia on 26 September and Malta on 30 September, before finishing against Georgia in Bielefeld on 6 October.