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"To an observer, it seems crazy," Jarell Quansah remarks, as he looks back 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 Quick Recap

Days after winning the U21 European Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, to go to the Bundesliga side in a multi-million pound transfer.

The significant transfer sum brought high expectations as the 22-year-old was tasked with settling in in a foreign land and at a team where the churn was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had taken over to replace the previous coach and a host of key players were departing or already left – including several high-profile names, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, established players and Jonathan Tah.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at home to Hoffenheim and the centre-half scored after the opening minutes, though the goal was overshadowed by sadness. His primary thought was his former Liverpool teammate, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah performed his teammate's signature celebration as a mark of respect.

"To have a goal on your Bundesliga debut, in front of home fans, after five minutes, is certainly a rollercoaster," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been excused for questioning what he had committed to at Leverkusen. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they fell to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on August 30th was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team squandered comfortable advantages to finish level at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team for much longer. He was sacked on September 1st.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the kind to worry. If calmness defines his game, it was on show during the conversation he participated in after being selected for England for the international friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against Latvia.

Quansah has remained focused under the new Leverkusen manager, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he originally planned 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 Champions League ties. 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.

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 focus on the youth tournament, he provided him with a late call-up in September when John Stones was forced to withdraw.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in practice sessions and around the camp because he was named at the beginning in the manager's squad selection for the upcoming matches, effectively as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The aspiration is a debut. It is one more milestone he would certainly handle with ease.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the team were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not only from the coach," Quansah says. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So knowing it was a type of internal decision and nothing would change with whatever coach was to come in ... it was easy for me to choose this path.

"There were a lot of players departing and it's consistently challenging when you lose key players. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the outcomes we have had recently demonstrate that we have developed a good squad with talented individuals. It is requiring patience to build and we are not where we want to be. But if we are achieving positive outcomes and not losing that is a solid foundation to start."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to depart from Liverpool, his club from the age of five, where he enjoyed so many significant occasions – such as the league cup triumph over their London rivals in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an extra-time substitute.

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 25 occasions in the league, his limited playing time falling short compared to his statistics from the prior season when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been so good for my professional development," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you need games and I'm going to be needing hundreds of games to be at my desired level.

"I just wanted game time and when you are at a top-level club, it's not promised because there are elite performers throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can trust that I might make mistakes at times but they will see beyond that and see I can keep pushing and improving."

Foundation Building

Quansah recalls his loan to League One Bristol Rovers in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – 16 of them, to be exact. There were "multiple reality checks", he says with a smile, starting with his debut; a heavy loss at their opponents.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It was a extremely important chapter in my development because I aimed to take the next step to regular senior competition. Every game I gained fresh insights. That's where I understood how crucial experience and playing games was. You could say it informed my choice in the summer."