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"From the outside, it appears insane," Jarell Quansah remarks, as he looks back on his summer just gone, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Brief Summary

Shortly after claiming victory in the U21 European Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The big fee brought high expectations as the young defender was tasked with finding his feet in a new country and at a club where the churn was dramatic. The new manager had stepped in to succeed the previous coach and a host of key players were departing or already left – including Florian Wirtz, key squad members, influential figures, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

League Introduction

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at their home ground to their opponents and the centre-half found the net after the opening minutes, albeit the achievement was overshadowed by tragedy. All he could think about was his former Liverpool teammate, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah performed his teammate's signature celebration as a mark of respect.

"To have a goal on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after the opening moments, is certainly a whirlwind," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been excused for questioning what he had committed to at Leverkusen. After the encouraging beginning in their opening league fixture, they fell to a narrow loss and the following game on 30 August was just as bad. The squad threw away comfortable advantages to finish level at their reduced opponents, the equaliser coming in added time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. He was sacked on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah does not come across as the type to fret. If calmness characterizes his playing style, it was evident during the conversation he participated in after being selected for the national team for the international friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against Latvia.

Quansah has kept his head down under the new Leverkusen manager, Kasper Hjulmand, and continued to do what he originally planned to do at the team – play. The new manager has established consistency. His team have three wins and one draw in four league matches along with draws in each of their European matches. But there is a broader statistic that motivates the player, even bringing a measure of vindication. It is the fact that demonstrates he has been ever-present of the team's season.

International Recognition

It is something that the England head coach has noted. The national team manager was a fan previously, selecting Quansah when he announced his initial selection. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he gave him a late call-up in September when the experienced defender was forced to withdraw.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and around the camp because he was named at the outset in Tuchel's squad selection for the upcoming matches, essentially as a additional defensive option with the regular starter returning. The dream is a debut. It is another thing he would certainly handle with ease.

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the team were keen on signing me for a while and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So understanding it was a sort of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with which manager was to come in ... it was easy for me to make that decision.

"We had a numerous squad members leaving and it's always tough when you lose key players. It has been difficult to build the leadership groups but the outcomes we have had recently show that we have got a competitive team with quality players. It is requiring patience to build and we are not where we want to be. But if we are achieving positive outcomes and not losing that is a good place to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to leave his long-time club, his club from the age of five, where he enjoyed so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over their London rivals in 2023‑24 when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in the previous campaign's Premier League title triumph. Yet his view of most of that achievement was not the perspective he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the league, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with his numbers from 2023‑24 when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been incredibly beneficial for my career," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you need games and I'm going to be needing hundreds of games to be where I want to be.

"My primary desire was game time and when you are at a top-level club, it's not guaranteed because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I could errors at times but they will see beyond that and see I can keep pushing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah recalls his loan to the lower division club in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – multiple matches, to be precise. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he notes with a grin, starting with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It proved a really valuable chapter in my development because I aimed to take the next step to playing first-team football. Every game I gained fresh insights. That's when I knew how valuable practical knowledge and match practice was. You could say it influenced my decision in the summer."