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

A Brief Summary

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

The significant transfer sum equalled big pressure as the young defender was charged with settling in in a foreign land and at a team where the turnover was substantial. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to replace Xabi Alonso and a host of key players were gone or going – chief among them Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, experienced professionals, established players and Jonathan Tah.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the central defender found the net after the opening minutes, albeit the achievement was undercut by sadness. His primary thought was Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah performed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

"To have a goal on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after five minutes, is certainly a rollercoaster," Quansah states. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a tribute 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 succumbed to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on August 30th was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level at 10-man Werder Bremen, the equaliser coming in stoppage time. It was not Ten Hag's team for much longer. He was sacked on September 1st.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the kind to worry. If calmness characterizes his playing style, it was evident during the conversation he participated in after joining England for the international friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

Quansah has kept his head down under the new Leverkusen manager, Kasper Hjulmand, and continued to do what he always intended to do at the club – compete. The new manager has established consistency. 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 more significant number that encourages Quansah, even bringing a measure of vindication. 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 fan last season, including him when he announced his initial selection. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the Under-21 European Championship, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when the experienced defender was forced to withdraw.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in practice sessions and within the squad environment because he was named at the outset in Tuchel's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The aspiration is a debut. It is another thing he would surely take in his stride.

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the club were interested in me for a while and that's not only from the coach," Quansah explains. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So knowing it was a type of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to come in ... it was easy for me to make that decision.

"We had a lot of players leaving and it's always tough when you see important figures leave. It has been difficult to establish new hierarchies but the outcomes we have had recently show that we have developed a competitive team with quality players. It is requiring patience to build and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and not losing that is a good place to begin from."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to leave his long-time club, his team since childhood, where he enjoyed so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in the previous season when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of last season's Premier League title triumph. Yet his view of much of that was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an unused substitute on multiple matches in the competition, his four starts and nine appearances comparing unfavourably with his numbers from 2023‑24 when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I consistently developed off some of the best players around me at Liverpool and it's been incredibly beneficial for my career," he says. "However, for a developing defender, 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 top-level club, it's not guaranteed because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I could errors at certain moments 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 second-half of 2022-23 where he debuted at professional level – multiple matches, to be exact. There were "multiple reality checks", he says with a smile, beginning with his first game; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That was a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It was a extremely important chapter in my development because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Every game I learned something new. That's where I understood how crucial practical knowledge and playing games was. You could suggest it influenced my choice in the summer."