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"To an observer, it appears crazy," 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 unpredictable game."

A Brief Summary

Days 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 the Bundesliga side in a £30m deal.

The big fee brought high expectations as the 22-year-old was charged with finding his feet in a new country and at a team where the turnover was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to succeed the previous coach and a host of star performers were gone or going – including several high-profile names, key squad members, influential figures, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, established players and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at their home ground to their opponents and the central defender found the net after five minutes, though the goal was undercut by sadness. All he could think about was Diogo Jota, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah performed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

"To have a goal on your first Bundesliga match, in front of home fans, after five minutes, is definitely a whirlwind," Quansah states. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The player could have been excused for questioning what he had committed to at Leverkusen. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they fell to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on 30 August was just as bad. Ten Hag's team squandered 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level at their reduced opponents, the tying goal coming in stoppage time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the kind to worry. If composure defines his game, it was evident during the conversation he gave after joining England for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

Quansah has remained focused under the new Leverkusen manager, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he originally planned to do at the club – play. The new manager has brought stability. 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 sense of justification. It is the one which shows he has played every minute of the team's season.

International Recognition

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The national team manager was a fan previously, including him when he named his first squad. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he gave him a late call-up in September when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have done something right in training and within the squad environment because he was named at the outset in Tuchel'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 keen on signing me for a while and that's not only from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah explains. "They were interested before he got appointed. So understanding it was a type of organizational choice and nothing would change with whatever coach was to come in ... it was easy for me to make that decision.

"There were a lot of players departing and it's always tough when you lose key players. It has been difficult to build the leadership groups but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] demonstrate that we have got a good squad with quality players. It is requiring patience to develop and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and not losing that is a good place to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave his long-time club, his club from the age of five, where he enjoyed so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in the previous season 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 numbers from 2023‑24 when he started nine games.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off top-level professionals around me at Liverpool and it's been so good for my professional development," he says. "But as a young centre-back, you need games and I'm going to be needing extensive playing time 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 promised because there are world-class players 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 see I can continue developing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to the lower division club in the later part of that season where he debuted at professional level – multiple matches, to be precise. There were "multiple reality checks", he notes with a grin, starting with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It proved a extremely important part of my career because I aimed to take the next step to regular senior competition. Each match I learned something new. That's where I knew how crucial practical knowledge and match practice was. You could suggest it influenced my choice in the summer."