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

A Quick Recap

Shortly after claiming victory in the European Under-21 Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah decided to leave his childhood club, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum brought high expectations as the 22-year-old was tasked with finding his feet in a foreign land and at a club where the turnover was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had taken over to succeed the previous coach and a host of key players were gone or going – chief among them several high-profile names, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

League Introduction

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at home to Hoffenheim and the centre-half found the net after five minutes, albeit the goal was overshadowed by sadness. 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 tribute.

"To have a goal on your Bundesliga debut, in front of home fans, after five minutes, is certainly a whirlwind," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The player could have been forgiven for wondering what he had committed to at the German club. From the promising start in their first league game, they fell to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on August 30th was equally disappointing. 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. His dismissal came on September 1st.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the type to fret. If composure defines his game, it was evident during the conversation he gave after being selected for England for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has kept his head down under the current coach, Kasper Hjulmand, and continued to do what he always intended to do at the team – compete. Hjulmand has brought stability. His team have three wins and one draw in four league matches along with draws in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a more significant number that motivates the player, even bringing a measure of vindication. It is the one which shows he has played every minute of the club's campaign.

National Team Attention

It is one that the England head coach has noted. The national team manager was a admirer previously, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad. After omitting him in the summer so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he provided him with a late call-up in September when John Stones was compelled to pull out.

Still to win his first cap, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in practice sessions and within the squad environment because he was selected at the beginning in Tuchel's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, effectively as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a debut. It is another thing he would surely handle with ease.

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the club were interested in me for a considerable time and that's not only from the coach," Quansah explains. "They were interested before he got appointed. So understanding it was a type of internal decision and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to take over ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"There were a lot of players departing and it's always tough when you lose key players. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have developed 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 start."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to depart from Liverpool, his team since childhood, where he enjoyed so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over their London rivals in the previous season when he was introduced as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also involved in the previous campaign's Premier League title triumph. Yet his perspective of much of that was not the perspective he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the league, his limited playing time falling short compared to his statistics from 2023‑24 when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I've always learned off some of the best players around me at my former club and it's been incredibly beneficial for my career," he says. "But as a young centre-back, you need games and I'm going to be needing hundreds of games to be at my desired level.

"My primary desire was regular playing opportunities and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not guaranteed because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted an environment where they can trust that I could errors at times but they will see beyond that and see I can keep pushing and improving."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers 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, starting with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah reflects. "It proved a extremely important chapter in my development because I wanted to make the next step to regular senior competition. Each match I learned something new. That's when I knew how valuable experience and match practice was. You could say it influenced my choice in the off-season."