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"To an observer, it appears crazy," Jarell Quansah says, as he looks back on his recent summer, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a crazy 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 go to Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The big fee equalled high expectations as the young defender was tasked with settling in in a new country and at a team where the churn was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to succeed Xabi Alonso and a host of star performers were departing or already left – chief among them several high-profile names, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at home to Hoffenheim and the centre-half scored after five minutes, though the achievement was overshadowed by sadness. His primary thought was Diogo Jota, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after the opening moments, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The defender could have been forgiven for wondering what he had signed up for at the German club. After the encouraging beginning in their opening league fixture, they succumbed to a narrow loss and the following game on 30 August was just as bad. The squad threw away comfortable advantages to finish level 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 1 September.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the type to fret. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the conversation he participated in after joining England for the international friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has remained focused under the new Leverkusen manager, Kasper Hjulmand, and continued to do what he always intended to do at the team – play. The new manager has brought stability. His team have three wins and one draw in their domestic campaign along with draws in each of their European matches. But there is a broader statistic that motivates the player, even bringing a measure of vindication. It is the fact that demonstrates he has been ever-present of the team's season.

National Team Attention

It is one that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The England head coach was a fan previously, including him when he named his first squad. After leaving him out in the summer so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in September when John Stones was forced to withdraw.

Still to win his first cap, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and within the squad environment because he was named at the beginning in the manager's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, effectively as a additional defensive option with the regular starter returning. The dream is a debut. It is one more milestone he would certainly take in his stride.

Career Choices

"With my new club, the team were keen on signing me for a while and that's not just from the coach," Quansah says. "They were interested before he got appointed. So understanding it was a type of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to take over ... it was easy for me to make that decision.

"There were a numerous squad members leaving and it's always tough when you lose key players. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] demonstrate that we have got a competitive team with quality players. It is going to take time to develop and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and not losing that is a solid foundation to start."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to leave Liverpool, his club from the age of five, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over their London rivals in the previous season when he came on as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also involved in the previous campaign's Premier League title triumph. Yet his perspective of most of that achievement was not the one he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on multiple matches in the league, his four starts and nine appearances comparing unfavourably with his statistics from 2023‑24 when he featured more regularly.

Professional Growth

"I consistently developed off some of the best players 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 will require extensive playing time to be at my desired level.

"I just wanted regular playing opportunities and when you are at a top-level club, it's not promised because there are elite performers throughout the squad. I wanted somewhere where they can trust 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 temporary transfer to the lower division club in the second-half of 2022-23 where he debuted at professional level – multiple matches, to be exact. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he says with a grin, beginning with his first game; a heavy loss at their opponents.

"That was a genuine revelation," Quansah reflects. "It was a extremely important chapter in my development because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Every game I gained fresh insights. That's when I understood how valuable practical knowledge and match practice was. You could say it influenced my choice in the summer."