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"To an observer, it appears crazy," Jarell Quansah remarks, as he reflects 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 England at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to join the Bundesliga side in a £30m deal.

The big fee equalled high expectations as the 22-year-old was tasked with finding his feet in a new country and at a club where the turnover was substantial. The new manager had taken over to succeed the previous coach and a number of key players were gone or going – including Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, influential figures, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at home to their opponents and the centre-half found the net after five minutes, though the achievement was overshadowed by sadness. His primary thought was his former Liverpool teammate, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed his teammate's signature celebration as a tribute.

"Scoring on your Bundesliga debut, at home, after the opening moments, is certainly a whirlwind," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The player could have been excused for questioning what he had signed up for at Leverkusen. After the encouraging beginning in their first league game, they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat and the following game on 30 August was equally disappointing. The squad threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to draw 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in stoppage time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. He was sacked on September 1st.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah does not come across as the kind to worry. If calmness characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the interview he gave after joining England for the Wembley friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against Latvia.

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 – play. The new manager has brought stability. His team have positive results in their domestic campaign along with ties 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 fact that demonstrates he has played every minute of the club's campaign.

International Recognition

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The England head coach was a fan previously, including him when he announced his initial selection. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could concentrate 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 around the camp because he was named at the beginning in Tuchel's squad selection for the upcoming matches, essentially as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a debut. It is one more milestone he would certainly take in his stride.

Career Choices

"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 prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a type of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with which manager was to take over ... it was straightforward for me to make that decision.

"We had a numerous squad members departing and it's always tough when you lose key players. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the results we have had recently show that we have got a competitive team with talented individuals. It is going to take time to build and we are not where we want to be. But if we are getting results and avoiding defeats that is a good place 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 significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective 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 four starts and nine appearances falling short compared to his numbers from 2023‑24 when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off some of the best players around me at Liverpool and it's been so good for my career," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you require match experience and I'm going to be needing extensive playing time to be at my desired level.

"I just wanted game time and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not guaranteed because there are elite performers throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can have confidence that I might make mistakes at times but they will see beyond that and see I can keep pushing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to the lower division club in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – multiple matches, to be precise. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he notes with a smile, starting with his debut; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That represented a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It was a extremely important part of my career because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Each match I learned something new. That's where I knew how valuable practical knowledge and playing games was. You could suggest it influenced my decision in the off-season."