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"From the outside, it seems crazy," Jarell Quansah remarks, as he looks back on his recent summer, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a crazy game."

A Brief Summary

Shortly after winning the U21 European Championship with England at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a multi-million pound transfer.

The big fee brought high expectations as the young defender was charged with settling in in a new country and at a club where the churn was substantial. Erik ten Hag had taken over to succeed Xabi Alonso and a number of key players were gone or going – including several high-profile names, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the centre-half found the net after the opening minutes, though the goal was undercut by tragedy. His primary thought was his former Liverpool teammate, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed his teammate's signature celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring on your Bundesliga debut, in front of home fans, after the opening moments, is definitely a whirlwind," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The player could have been forgiven for wondering what he had committed to at Leverkusen. After the encouraging beginning in their first league game, they fell to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on 30 August was just as bad. The squad squandered comfortable advantages to finish level at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in stoppage time. It was not Ten Hag's team for very long. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the type to fret. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was evident during the conversation he gave after joining the national team for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against their next opponents.

Quansah has kept his head down under the new Leverkusen manager, Kasper Hjulmand, and continued to do what he always intended to do at the club – play. The new manager 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 been ever-present of the club's campaign.

National Team Attention

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The England head coach was a admirer last season, including him when he announced his initial selection. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could focus on the Under-21 European Championship, he gave him a late call-up in September when John Stones was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in training and within the squad environment because he was selected at the outset in the manager's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The dream is a first appearance. It is one more milestone he would certainly handle with ease.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the team were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not only from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a type of internal decision and things would remain consistent with which manager was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to make that decision.

"We had a numerous squad members departing and it's always tough when you see important figures leave. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the outcomes we have had recently show that we have developed a competitive team with quality players. It is requiring patience to build and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and avoiding defeats that is a good place to begin from."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to depart from his long-time club, his team since childhood, where he enjoyed so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his view of most of that achievement was not the perspective he would have chosen. He was an unused substitute on multiple matches in the competition, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with his numbers from the prior season when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I consistently developed off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been incredibly beneficial for my professional development," he comments. "However, for a developing defender, you need games and I'm will require hundreds of games to be at my desired level.

"I just wanted regular playing opportunities and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not promised because there are elite performers all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I might make mistakes at certain moments but they will see beyond that and recognize I can continue developing and improving."

Foundation Building

Quansah recalls his temporary transfer to the lower division club in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – multiple matches, to be precise. There were "multiple reality checks", he notes with a smile, starting with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents.

"That represented a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It proved a extremely important part of my career because I wanted to make the next step to regular senior competition. Every game I learned something new. That's where I knew how valuable experience and playing games was. You could say it influenced my decision in the summer."