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"To an observer, it appears insane," Jarell Quansah says, as he looks back 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

Shortly after claiming victory in the European Under-21 Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah decided to leave his childhood club, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The big fee equalled high expectations as the 22-year-old was charged with finding his feet in a new country and at a club where the churn was substantial. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to succeed the previous coach and a host of star performers were departing or already left – including Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, influential figures, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, established players and team leaders.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at their home ground to their opponents and the centre-half found the net after the opening minutes, though the achievement was overshadowed by sadness. All he could think about was Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah executed his teammate's signature celebration as a tribute.

"Scoring on your Bundesliga debut, at home, after five minutes, is certainly a whirlwind," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The player could have been forgiven for wondering 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 following game on 30 August was equally disappointing. The squad threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in added time. It was no longer his responsibility for much longer. He was sacked on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

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

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, Kasper Hjulmand, and continued to do what he originally planned to do at the team – compete. Hjulmand has established consistency. His squad have three wins and one draw in four league matches along with draws in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a more significant number that motivates the player, even bringing a measure of vindication. It is the fact that demonstrates he has played every minute of the team's season.

International Recognition

It is something that the England head coach has observed. The England head coach was a fan previously, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad. After omitting him in the summer so that Quansah could concentrate on the Under-21 European Championship, he provided him with a late call-up in the autumn when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in training and around the camp because he was selected at the beginning in Tuchel's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The dream is a first appearance. It is another thing he would surely handle with ease.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the club were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "They were interested before he got appointed. So knowing it was a sort of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with which manager was to come in ... it was easy for me to make that decision.

"There were a lot of players leaving and it's always tough when you lose key players. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have got a good squad with quality players. It is requiring patience to build and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and not losing that is a solid foundation to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to depart from Liverpool, his team since childhood, where he enjoyed so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in last season's Premier League title triumph. Yet his view of much of that was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an unused substitute on multiple matches in the league, his four starts and nine appearances falling short compared to his statistics from the prior season when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off some of the best players around me at Liverpool and it's been so good for my career," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you need games and I'm will require extensive playing time to be at my desired level.

"My primary desire was game time and when you are at a top-level club, it's not guaranteed because there are elite performers all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I could errors at times but they will look under that and see I can continue developing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to the lower division club in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – 16 of them, to be precise. There were "multiple reality checks", he says with a smile, beginning with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It was a extremely important part of my career 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 suggest it informed my choice in the off-season."