[7] On 13 October 2009, Bruma made his debut for the Netherlands U-21 national football team in an Under-21 Championship qualifying game victory over Poland.

[8] Eleven days later, Bruma made his Premier League debut for Chelsea, coming on as a substitute in a 5–0 victory over Blackburn Rovers.

[10] On 20 February 2010, Bruma made his second Premier League appearance, in the 2–0 victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he was a 56th-minute substitute replacing the injured Yuri Zhirkov.

Bruma had his first start in the Premier League in a home game against Aston Villa, where he partnered captain John Terry in central defence.

On 11 February 2011, Bruma joined Leicester City on loan until the end of the 2010–11 season, where he linked up with fellow Chelsea loanee Patrick van Aanholt.

[13] He made his debut for Leicester as a second-half substitute for Sol Bamba in the 84th of the team's 2–0 away win at Derby County on 12 February 2011.

[17] He was then moved into central midfield and he scored his first two league goals in a 4–2 win over Watford on 25 April 2011; both efforts were struck from 30 yards out.

[18] Bruma joined Hamburger SV on a one-year loan deal, until 30 June 2012, with an option for another year[19] and was given the number 5 shirt.

[25] On 26 June 2016, Bruma made a return to German football, signing a five-year deal with Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg for an undisclosed fee.

At U21, Bruma made his debut at 17 years old, on 4 September 2009, during a qualifying match for the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship against Finland, where his team won 2–0.

Bruma scored his first international goal on 16 November 2014 against Latvia in a qualifying match for UEFA Euro 2016, which the Dutch won 6–0.