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"From the outside, it appears crazy," Jarell Quansah says, as he reflects on his summer just gone, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a crazy game."

A Brief Summary

Days after claiming victory in the European Under-21 Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The big fee brought high expectations as the 22-year-old was tasked with finding his feet in a new country and at a club where the churn was substantial. The new manager had taken over to succeed Xabi Alonso and a host of key players were departing or already left – including several high-profile names, key squad members, influential figures, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, established players and team leaders.

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 the opening minutes, albeit the achievement was undercut by tragedy. His primary thought was his former Liverpool teammate, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

"To have a goal on your Bundesliga debut, in front of home fans, after the opening moments, is certainly a rollercoaster," Quansah states. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The player could have been excused for questioning what he had committed to at the German club. From the promising start 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 threw away comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen, the equaliser coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team for very long. He was sacked 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 interview he gave after joining the national team for the international friendly against their rivals and the World Cup qualifier against their next opponents.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, Kasper Hjulmand, and continued to do what he originally planned to do at the team – play. Hjulmand has established consistency. His squad have positive results in their domestic campaign along with ties in each of their European matches. But there is a broader statistic that encourages Quansah, 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 national team manager was a admirer previously, including him 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 last-minute inclusion in September when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and within the squad environment because he was named at the beginning in the manager's squad selection for the upcoming matches, essentially as a additional defensive option with Stones fit again. The aspiration is a first appearance. It is one more milestone he would certainly take in his stride.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the club were interested in me for a considerable time and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah explains. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So understanding it was a sort of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to make that decision.

"We had a numerous squad members leaving and it's consistently challenging when you see important figures leave. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the results we have had recently show that we have developed a competitive team 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 avoiding defeats that is a good place to start."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave his long-time club, his club from the age of five, where he enjoyed so many memorable moments – 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 the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his view of most of that achievement was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an unused substitute on 25 occasions in the league, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with his numbers from the prior season when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off some of the best players around me at my former club and it's been incredibly beneficial for my career," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you require match experience and I'm will require extensive playing time 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 world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I might make mistakes at times but they will see beyond that and recognize I can continue developing and improving."

Early Experience

Quansah remembers his loan to the lower division club in the later part of that season where he debuted at professional level – 16 of them, to be precise. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he says with a smile, beginning with his debut; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It was a extremely important chapter in my development because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Each match I learned something new. That's where I understood how valuable practical knowledge and playing games was. You could say it influenced my choice in the off-season."