His smile full of mischief lets pride shine through and portends beautiful things. On the podium of the U-17 World Cup on December 2, Paris Brunner has two very good reasons to be happy: the first, he has just been crowned world champion with Germany, winners of the French team at the end of a crazy match; the second, he was voted best player of the competition, a great reward in his budding career.
However, it was neither his first trophy with the Mannschaft, nor his first title as best player in a tournament. Six months earlier, the German U-17s won the Euro and Brunner was already rewarded. “I think his Euro was even better than his World Cup,” said German coach Christian Wück, laughing.
In both competitions, one thing in common: Paris scored goals. 5 in 7 matches at the World Cup, 4 in 6 matches at the Euro. More than a quality, an obsession: “He defines a good match based on the goals he scored,” continues Wück. If you ask him if he played well or badly and he didn’t score a goal, he will tell you that he played very badly. »
“He plays like a street footballer”
His coach defines as “an excellent individualist” someone who enjoys playing both centrally and on the left side: “he is a very good technical player, very fast, very athletic. But his greatest quality, the most important, is that he scores goals. He is a player that every coach wants to have on their team. »
And it’s an understatement to say that the young man, born in 2006 (he will celebrate his 18th birthday in February), is setting the scorers in panic in his age category. With Borussia Dortmund, his club, he has already been playing with the U19s, who will face PSG in the Youth League this Wednesday (4 p.m.), since last season. This season, he has 11 goals in 12 matches in all competitions with Schwartz-Gelben, and 20 in 25 matches with the German team over the last 14 months.
“Among the players I have seen in my career, he is in the top 10”
Christian Wück, Germany U17 coach
“I think that in this age category, he is one of the three best German players,” says Wück, who has more than ten years of experience with young German players. He plays like a street footballer, and these are the kind of players Germany needs, street football is very weak at the moment in Germany Among the players I have seen in my career, he is in the top 10, precisely because he is capable of scoring a lot of goals. »
Performances, coupled with his success with the national selection, which could very quickly open the doors to the professional group for him in a club where young talents are produced at an industrial pace. Last weekend, he was even called up for the first time in Edin Terzic’s squad to face RB Leipzig in the league, taking advantage of an avalanche of injuries in the attacking sector.
Suspended for a few days in October
However, there is no question of skipping steps. “It’s very difficult to teach a young player that he has to work harder than others to become professional. I think he needs a little time to figure it out. Dortmund are working with him on his mentality, but I think he needs at least a year to really understand that. »
In mid-October, a small hitch tarnished these perfect beginnings when the BVB surprised everyone by announcing the suspension of Brunner “until further notice”, “for disciplinary reasons”. Suspension lifted since then, without any clear reason filtering out. “There was an incident that forced us to take this measure,” explained Edin Terzic, BVB coach. It is true that Paris is an extraordinary and talented player, but I ask you for a little patience. » With young talents like this, being patient is sometimes difficult.
