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"From the outside, it seems insane," Jarell Quansah says, as he reflects on his summer just gone, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a crazy game."

A Quick Recap

Days after winning the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a multi-million pound transfer.

The significant transfer sum equalled high expectations 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 taken over to replace Xabi Alonso and a host of key players were departing or already left – chief among them Florian Wirtz, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the central defender scored after five minutes, albeit the goal was undercut by tragedy. His primary thought was Diogo Jota, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah performed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, in front of home fans, after the opening moments, is certainly a whirlwind," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been forgiven for wondering what he had committed to at Leverkusen. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they fell to a narrow loss and the next match on 30 August was just as bad. The squad threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level at their reduced opponents, the equaliser coming in stoppage time. It was not Ten Hag's team for much longer. He was sacked on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah does not come across as the type to fret. If calmness defines his game, it was evident during the conversation he gave after joining the national team for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has kept his head down under the new Leverkusen manager, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he originally planned to do at the club – compete. Hjulmand has established consistency. His team have positive results in their domestic campaign along with draws 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 one which shows he has been ever-present 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 last season, selecting Quansah when he announced his initial selection. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he gave him a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in practice sessions and within the squad environment because he was named at the outset in Tuchel's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, effectively as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The dream is a first appearance. It is one more milestone he would certainly take in his stride.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the team were interested in me for a considerable time and that's not only from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a sort of internal decision and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to take over ... it was easy for me to make that decision.

"There were a lot of players departing and it's consistently challenging when you see important figures leave. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the outcomes we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have developed a competitive team with quality players. It is going to take time to build and we are not where we want to be. But if we are getting results and not losing that is a solid foundation to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to depart from Liverpool, 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 the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective of much of that was not the one he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the competition, his limited playing time falling short compared to his numbers from the prior season when he started nine games.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off some of the best players around me at Liverpool and it's been incredibly beneficial for my professional development," he says. "However, for a developing defender, you require match experience and I'm will require extensive playing time 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 elite performers throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can trust that I could errors at times but they will see beyond that and recognize I can keep pushing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah recalls his temporary transfer to the lower division club in the later part of that season where he debuted at professional level – 16 of them, to be exact. There were "multiple reality checks", he says with a grin, beginning with his first game; a heavy loss at their opponents.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It was a extremely important chapter in my development because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Every game I learned something new. That's when I understood how valuable experience and match practice was. You could suggest it informed my choice in the summer."