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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 claiming victory in the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from his childhood club, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The big fee brought big pressure as the 22-year-old was tasked with settling in in a foreign land and at a team where the churn was dramatic. The new manager had stepped in to succeed the previous coach and a number of key players were departing or already left – chief among them Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, influential figures, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at home to their opponents and the centre-half scored after the opening minutes, though the achievement was undercut by sadness. His primary thought was his former Liverpool teammate, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah performed Jota's gamer celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring 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 defender could have been excused for questioning what he had signed up for at the German club. After the encouraging beginning in their first league game, they succumbed 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 not Ten Hag's team for very long. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the type to fret. If calmness characterizes his playing style, it was evident during the interview he gave after joining the national team for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has kept his head down under the new Leverkusen manager, Kasper Hjulmand, and continued to do what he originally planned to do at the club – play. Hjulmand has established consistency. His squad have three wins and one draw in their domestic campaign along with draws in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a more significant number that encourages Quansah, 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 observed. The national team manager was a fan last season, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad. After omitting him in the summer so that Quansah could concentrate 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 impressed sufficiently in training and within the squad environment because he was selected at the outset in Tuchel's squad selection for the upcoming matches, essentially as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a first appearance. It is another thing he would certainly handle with ease.

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the team were keen on signing me for a while and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "Their interest existed prior to his arrival. So understanding it was a type of internal decision and things would remain consistent with which manager was to take over ... it was easy for me to make that decision.

"There were a lot of players departing and it's always tough when you see important figures leave. It has been difficult to build the leadership groups but the results we have had recently show that we have developed a good squad with quality players. It is requiring patience to develop and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and avoiding defeats that is a solid foundation to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to depart from Liverpool, his team since childhood, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over their London rivals in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in last season's Premier League title triumph. Yet his view of most of that achievement was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an non-playing reserve on multiple matches in the league, his four starts and nine appearances falling short compared to his numbers from the prior season when he started nine games.

Career Development

"I've always learned off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been so good 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 where I want to be.

"I just wanted regular playing opportunities and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not guaranteed because there are elite performers throughout the squad. I wanted somewhere where they can have confidence that I might make mistakes at times but they will look under that and see I can keep pushing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah recalls 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 notes with a grin, starting with his first game; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah reflects. "It was a extremely important chapter in my development because I wanted to make the next step to regular senior competition. Every game I learned something new. That's where I understood how crucial practical knowledge and playing games was. You could suggest it informed my decision in the off-season."