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"To an observer, it seems insane," Jarell Quansah remarks, as he looks back on his recent summer, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a crazy game."

A Brief Summary

Shortly after winning the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum equalled big pressure as the young defender was tasked with settling in in a foreign land and at a team where the turnover was substantial. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to succeed Xabi Alonso and a number of star performers were departing or already left – including Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, influential figures, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, established players and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at their home ground to their opponents and the central defender found the net after five minutes, albeit the achievement was undercut by tragedy. His primary thought was Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah executed his teammate's signature celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after five minutes, is definitely a whirlwind," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The player could have been forgiven for wondering what he had signed up for at the German club. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on August 30th was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team squandered 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level at 10-man Werder Bremen, the equaliser coming in added time. It was no longer his responsibility for much longer. He was sacked on September 1st.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the kind to worry. If calmness characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the interview he participated in after joining the national team for the Wembley friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has remained focused under the new Leverkusen manager, Kasper Hjulmand, and persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the club – compete. Hjulmand has brought stability. His team have three wins and one draw in four league matches along with ties in each of their European matches. But there is a broader statistic that encourages Quansah, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the fact that demonstrates he has played every minute of the club's campaign.

International Recognition

It is something that the England head coach has observed. The national team manager was a admirer last season, selecting Quansah when he announced his initial selection. After omitting him in the summer so that Quansah could focus on the Under-21 European Championship, he gave him a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when John Stones was forced to withdraw.

Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have done something right in practice sessions and around the camp because he was selected at the outset in Tuchel's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a additional defensive option with Stones fit again. The aspiration is a debut. It is another thing he would certainly handle with ease.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the team were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not only from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah explains. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a sort of internal decision and nothing would change with whatever coach was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"There were a numerous squad members leaving and it's consistently challenging when you lose key players. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have got a competitive team with talented individuals. It is going to take time to develop and we are not where we want to be. But if we are getting results and avoiding defeats that is a solid foundation to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave his long-time club, his team since childhood, where he experienced so many memorable moments – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in last season's Premier League title triumph. Yet his view of most of that achievement was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the league, his four starts and nine appearances falling short compared to his statistics from the prior season when he started nine games.

Career Development

"I've always learned off top-level professionals around me at Liverpool and it's been incredibly beneficial for my professional development," he says. "But as a young centre-back, you require match experience and I'm going to be needing hundreds of games to be where I want to be.

"I just wanted regular playing opportunities and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not guaranteed because there are elite performers all over the pitch. I wanted an environment where they can have confidence that I could errors at times but they will look under that and recognize I can keep pushing and improving."

Early Experience

Quansah recalls his temporary transfer to League One Bristol Rovers in the later part of that season where he made his first senior appearances – 16 of them, to be precise. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he notes with a smile, beginning with his first game; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That represented a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It was a extremely important chapter in my development because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's when I understood how crucial experience and match practice was. You could say it influenced my choice in the off-season."