Banned: Brilliant star striker Liverpool want to sign slapped with punishment

One of Liverpool's top current targets has been slapped with a ban. Here are the details.

Liverpool are in the market for a new forward - even if they do currently have both Alexander Isak and Hugo Ektiké on the books. But a versatile forward who could play in any of the front four positions and offer a true goal threat would be a significant boost to the team.

The Reds do have such a player in mind. They're currently looking at Paris Brunner, who has started the season spectacularly well for AS Monaco.

Weirdly, Liverpool might be bit annoyed that this has happened. Anfield Watch understands that they've been watching him for a while now, even though he went all through last season without scoring.

Brunner was thrust into the starting XI at Monaco this season, though, and he's responded with six goals in seven games. Naturally, it's driving his price up as well as competition for his signature.

There's been an interesting twist, though. Brunner is now banned for two matches, putting a pause on the hype.

Paris Brunner suspended

Brunner caused some controversy against Strasbourg, performing a throat-slitting gesture towards the opposition fans after scoring. That didn't go down well with the French FA.

Now the German is suspended. Officially, it's a four-game ban but two of those games are on probation - it means Brunner definitely misses the next two Ligue 1 fixtures and we'll see what happens after that. We presume that any further ban this season will have an extra two games lumped onto it, essentially.

Brunner claimed in his defence that he'd heard specific Strasbourg fans insult his family. He reacted to what he felt was abuse that went over the line, though the French FA haven't let him off with that as an excuse.

So how will that affect Liverpool's interest? Not much, we imagine. But it does completely halt Brunner's excellent momentum - and that of Monaco.

He's been riding that wave of momentum all season, leading to goals in virtually every game. Now that the momentum is gone, it'll be interesting to see if he can recapture it all.

Liverpool will be more interested than ever if he can do that, of course. And if he can't? Perhaps that asking price doesn't rise quite as high as it first looked.