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"From the outside, it seems insane," Jarell Quansah says, as he reflects on his recent summer, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a crazy game."

A Quick Recap

Shortly after claiming victory in the European Under-21 Championship with England at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, to join the Bundesliga side in a multi-million pound transfer.

The significant transfer sum brought big pressure as the young defender was charged with finding his feet in a foreign land and at a team where the turnover was substantial. The new manager had taken over to replace Xabi Alonso and a number of key players were gone or going – including several high-profile names, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, established players and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at home to their opponents and the centre-half scored after the opening minutes, albeit the achievement was undercut by sadness. His primary thought was Diogo Jota, who was tragically lost in a road incident. 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 definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah states. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The player could have been excused for questioning what he had committed to at the German club. After the encouraging beginning in their opening league fixture, they fell to a narrow loss and the next match on 30 August was just as bad. The squad squandered comfortable advantages to finish level at 10-man Werder Bremen, the equaliser coming in stoppage time. It was no longer his responsibility for much longer. He was sacked on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah does not come across as the type to fret. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the interview he gave after being selected for England for the international friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against their next opponents.

Quansah has kept his head down under the new Leverkusen manager, the Danish tactician, and continued to do what he always intended to do at the team – compete. Hjulmand has established consistency. His squad have three wins and one draw in their domestic campaign along with ties in each of their European matches. But there is a more significant number that motivates the player, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the fact that demonstrates he has played every minute of the team's season.

National Team Attention

It is something that the England head coach has observed. The England head coach was a admirer previously, including him when he named his first squad. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he provided him with a late call-up in the autumn when the experienced defender was forced to withdraw.

Still to win his first cap, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in practice sessions and within the squad environment because he was named at the beginning in the manager's squad selection for the upcoming matches, essentially as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The dream is a debut. It is another thing he would surely handle with ease.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the club were interested in me for a while and that's not just from the coach," Quansah says. "Their interest existed prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a sort of internal decision and nothing would change with which manager was to take over ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"We had a numerous squad members departing and it's always tough when you see important figures leave. It has been difficult to build the leadership groups but the results we have had recently show that we have got a good squad with talented individuals. It is requiring patience to develop and we are still progressing. 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 depart from his long-time club, his club from the age of five, where he experienced so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of last season's Premier League title triumph. Yet his view of most of that achievement was not the one he would have preferred. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the competition, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with his statistics from 2023‑24 when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off some of the best players around me at my former club and it's been incredibly beneficial for my professional development," he comments. "However, for a developing defender, you require match experience and I'm will require hundreds of games to be where I want to be.

"My primary desire was regular playing opportunities and when you are at a top-level club, it's not promised because there are elite performers all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can have confidence that I might make mistakes at times but they will see beyond that and recognize I can keep pushing and improving."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his loan to League One Bristol Rovers in the second-half of 2022-23 where he debuted at professional level – 16 of them, to be precise. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he says with a grin, beginning with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It proved a really valuable chapter in my development because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Every game I learned something new. That's where I knew how valuable experience and playing games was. You could say it informed my choice in the summer."