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"From the outside, it appears insane," Jarell Quansah says, as he reflects on his summer just gone, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Brief Summary

Shortly after claiming victory in the U21 European Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, to go to the Bundesliga side in a multi-million pound transfer.

The significant transfer sum brought big pressure as the young defender was charged with settling in in a foreign land and at a team where the churn was substantial. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to replace Xabi Alonso and a host of star performers were gone or going – chief among them Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, established players and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at their home ground to their opponents and the centre-half found the net after five minutes, albeit the achievement was undercut by tragedy. His primary thought was Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah performed his teammate's signature celebration as a tribute.

"Scoring on your Bundesliga debut, in front of home fans, after five minutes, is certainly a whirlwind," Quansah states. "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 the German club. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they succumbed to a narrow loss and the next match on 30 August was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team threw away comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 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.

Staying Focused

Quansah doesn't appear to be the kind to worry. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the conversation he participated in after being selected for 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 persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the team – play. Hjulmand has established consistency. His squad 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 played every minute of the club's campaign.

National Team Attention

It is one that Thomas Tuchel has observed. The England head coach was a fan previously, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Still to win his international debut, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in practice sessions and within the squad environment because he was selected at the outset in the manager's 24‑man group for the upcoming matches, essentially as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The aspiration is a first appearance. It is one more milestone he would certainly handle with ease.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the club were keen on signing me for a while and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah explains. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So understanding it was a sort of internal decision and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to take over ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"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 [under Hjulmand] demonstrate that we have developed a good squad 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 start."

Leaving Childhood Club

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 Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in the previous campaign's Premier League title triumph. Yet his view of much of that was not the one he would have preferred. He was an unused substitute on 25 occasions in the league, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with his statistics from 2023‑24 when he started nine games.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been so good for my career," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you require match experience and I'm will require hundreds of games to be where I want to be.

"I just wanted regular playing opportunities and when you are at a top-level club, 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 look under that and recognize I can continue developing and pushing."

Early Experience

Quansah recalls his loan to League One Bristol Rovers in the second-half of 2022-23 where he debuted at professional level – 16 of them, to be exact. There were "multiple reality checks", he says with a smile, starting with his first game; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah reflects. "It was a really valuable chapter in my development because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Every game I learned something new. That's when I knew how crucial experience and playing games was. You could say it informed my choice in the off-season."