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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 unpredictable game."

A Brief Summary

Days after winning the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the conclusion of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, to join the Bundesliga side in a multi-million pound transfer.

The big fee equalled big pressure as the 22-year-old was tasked with settling in in a foreign land and at a team where the turnover was substantial. The new manager had stepped in to replace Xabi Alonso and a number of key players were departing or already left – including several high-profile names, key squad members, influential figures, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the central defender found the net after five minutes, albeit the goal was overshadowed by tragedy. 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, at home, after five minutes, is certainly a whirlwind," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been forgiven for wondering what he had committed to at Leverkusen. After the encouraging beginning in their opening league fixture, they fell to a narrow loss and the next match on August 30th was just as bad. The squad squandered comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at their reduced opponents, the equaliser coming in stoppage time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. He was sacked on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

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

Quansah has remained focused under the new Leverkusen manager, the Danish tactician, and continued to do what he always intended to do at the team – compete. The new manager 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 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 club's campaign.

International Recognition

It is something that the England head coach has observed. The national team manager was a admirer previously, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he provided him with a late call-up in the autumn when John Stones was compelled to pull out.

Still to win his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in training and around the camp because he was selected at the beginning in Tuchel's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a additional defensive option with the regular starter returning. The dream is a first appearance. It is another thing he would certainly take in his stride.

Career Choices

"With my new club, the club were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not just from the coach," Quansah says. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So understanding it was a type of internal decision and things would remain consistent with which manager was to come in ... 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 difficult to establish new hierarchies but the outcomes we have had [under Hjulmand] demonstrate that we have got a competitive team with talented individuals. It is going to take time to develop and we are still progressing. But if we are achieving positive outcomes and avoiding defeats that is a good place to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to leave his long-time club, his team since childhood, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he came on as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also a part of 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 limited playing time comparing unfavourably with his statistics from the prior season when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I've always learned off top-level professionals around me at Liverpool and it's been incredibly beneficial for my career," he comments. "However, for a developing defender, you require match experience and I'm going to be needing hundreds of games to be where I want to be.

"My primary desire was game time and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not guaranteed because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can have confidence that I could errors at certain moments but they will look under that and see I can continue developing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah recalls his loan to League One Bristol Rovers 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, beginning with his first game; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It was a really valuable 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 when I knew how valuable practical knowledge and match practice was. You could say it informed my decision in the summer."