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"To an observer, it seems insane," Jarell Quansah says, as he reflects on his recent summer, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Quick Recap

Shortly after claiming victory in the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a multi-million pound transfer.

The significant transfer sum equalled high expectations as the 22-year-old was tasked with settling in in a foreign land and at a team where the turnover was substantial. The new manager had stepped in to replace the previous coach and a host of key players were gone or going – including several high-profile names, Piero Hincapié, influential figures, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at their home ground to their opponents and the centre-half scored after the opening minutes, albeit the achievement was undercut by tragedy. All he could think about was his former Liverpool teammate, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

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

Early Challenges

The defender could have been excused for questioning what he had signed up for 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 equally disappointing. The squad squandered comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen, the equaliser coming in stoppage time. It was no longer his responsibility for much longer. His dismissal came on September 1st.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah does not come across as the type to fret. If calmness defines his game, it was evident during the interview he participated in after joining England for the Wembley friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has kept his head down under the current coach, Kasper Hjulmand, and continued to do 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 encourages Quansah, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the fact that demonstrates he has been ever-present of the team's season.

National Team Attention

It is one that Thomas Tuchel has observed. The national team manager was a admirer last season, including him when he named his first squad. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he gave him a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Still to win his first cap, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in practice sessions and within the squad environment because he was selected at the outset in the manager's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, effectively as a additional defensive option with Stones fit again. The aspiration is a first appearance. It is one more milestone he would surely handle with ease.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the club were interested in me for a considerable time and that's not only from the coach," Quansah explains. "They were interested before he got appointed. So understanding it was a sort of internal decision and things would remain consistent with which manager was to take over ... it was straightforward for me to make that decision.

"There were a lot of players departing and it's always tough when you lose key players. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the outcomes we have had [under Hjulmand] demonstrate that we have got 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 not losing that is a good place to begin from."

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 the previous season when he was introduced as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also involved in the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective of most of that achievement was not the one he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the league, his limited playing time falling short compared to his numbers from 2023‑24 when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I consistently developed off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been so good for my career," he says. "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 team like Liverpool, it's not guaranteed because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted an environment where they can trust that I might make mistakes at certain moments but they will look under that and recognize I can keep pushing and improving."

Early Experience

Quansah remembers his loan to League One Bristol Rovers in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – multiple matches, to be exact. There were "multiple reality checks", he notes with a grin, beginning with his first game; 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 wanted to make the next step to regular senior competition. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's where I understood how valuable practical knowledge and playing games was. You could suggest it informed my choice in the off-season."